


Pinky Promises

by LavenderHue



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Light Angst, Minor appearances of other Characters - Freeform, Pre-Time Skip, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 11:10:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21053429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LavenderHue/pseuds/LavenderHue
Summary: Edelgard was playing games with the orphans at the monastery when Dimitri caught her in the act. Before she knew it, the kids convinced the both of them to play House — as their parents. But first they have to get married! What could go wrong?





	Pinky Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo, this is based off of needing fluff and also Dimitri’s C-support with Byleth, but in this fic Byleth is the professor of the Golden Deer lol. So that means that Dimitri is teaching the kids how to fight all by his lonesome, but don’t worry he’s having fun spending time with them! Also in this story, Edelgard doesn’t remember that Dimitri is her old childhood friend. PTSD can and does influence memories awfully, even happy ones may be regressed. So for the most part Edelgard’s thoughts on Dimitri will be just the impression she’s gotten of him since they started attending Garreg Mach at the same time.

—————

Edelgard had decided to take a short walk around the monastery — desperately needing a break from the hectic life of the academy, Hubert’s constant vigilance, Ferdinand’s demands of competition, coaxing Bernadetta out of her room to attend class, and more. As the house leader of the Black Eagles and future emperor of the Adrestian Empire, she shouldn’t be feeling like she’s obligated to take some time for herself since she truly _ doesn’t _ have the time to spend on leisure.

But that doesn’t stop her from taking time out of her day to stop and smell the roses, theoretically and literally at least since the roses were in bloom that season.

She shivered slightly from the gust of wind that arrives outside the monastery walls, but with the wind comes the tinkle of children’s laughter. With her curiosity piqued, Edelgard followed the direction in which the laughter had come from. She heard the children’s voices from around the corner and she adopted a small smile, feeling the spread of innocent joy in the air.

Edelgard was about to turn the corner to see how the children were doing and what they were up to, but then she heard a very familiar, deep voice speakout to the children.

“Now please don’t crowd in front of each other. Make sure that all of you can see me!”

Edelgard heard the voice briefly lecture the children while chuckling at them. She peeked around the corner, and to her surprise, she saw Dimitri handling a wooden staff, kneeling on one knee in front of the children to show it off.

“This is a staff, a different weapon than the swords that I showed you before. I’m much more equipped at handling lances than swords, but using this to teach you guys should suffice. After all, we wouldn’t want any of you to become injured,” Dimitri said, giving the kids surrounding him a bright grin.

“Now just watch and learn. Afterwards we can try practicing some basic swings and parries.” Dimitri stood up from his kneeling position and backed away from the crowd of children and begun demonstrating some warmups that he would do with a lance, but replicating it by using the staff instead. Almost immediately the kids disobeyed and ran around the field, clamoring for branches and sticks to follow Dimitri’s lead, even though he had instructed them to first watch him go through the motions of staff handling before they grabbed something to copy his movements.

However from what Edelgard could tell, Dimitri didn’t mind them disobeying his instructions. In fact he paused his demonstration to carefully watch over the children scoping the field for wood, maybe to ensure that they were safe at that moment.

Edelgard had quite frankly forgotten how kind Dimitri was. Recently he was descending into an unparalleled anger on the battlefield, at least according to the word of ear from the Fraldarius fellow. Dimitri always seemed to try his best to represent the ideals of a knight, but she could see that he went beyond those ideals — beyond the duties of a knight. He was a lot less of a beast and less of a mere soldier than some had described him to be.

However she didn’t see that side of him often within the past few months of meeting him.

She saw one of the children run up to Dimitri, a flower in one hand and some twigs in the other, handing him the flower. Dimitri gave the child a beaming grin, thanking them profusely for the “beautiful gift” and delicately attached the flower to his shoulder cape.

It had been so long since she’s seen him so carefree — ever since the Blue Lions first excursion at apprehending and then executing a group of bandits to be precise. She remembered seeing glimpses of this kinder side of him months ago, but now he adorns an almost constant serious face in the halls of the monastery. At least around those that weren’t the Blue Lions or the Knights of Seiros he would remain steadfast in his duties and professionalism, but around his friends and mentors he would let his guard down.

Now she can add children to the list as well.

While the majority of the children had found some sticks and ran back to where Dimitri was waiting, Edelgard noticed that there were a number of children waiting further back behind Dimitri, seemingly not paying attention to his impromptu lesson.

Her eye caught a trio near the ground, looking as if they were playing with the dirt, or rocks, or grass. The trio of children quickly changed to playing a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors, before they gave up from what seemed like boredom and changed to thumb wrestling.

Then there was a pair of children, a boy and a girl. From her position, it seemed like they were trying to create flower crowns from the abundance of flowers surrounding them in the field. The duo weirdly reminded Edelgard of her and one of her oldest friends at those ages, whether it be because of the girl’s pigtails or the boy’s shyness and following all of the girl’s orders, it made her reminiscence.

It brought back memories of when her and her old friend would play in the greenhouses, and they’d pick flowers to create their own makeshift crowns. She was never taught or allowed such frivolities back at Enbarr, even while with her siblings, so the boy had taken it upon himself to teach her the “necessities of life,” or so he said back then. It was really unfortunate that she was unable to remember his face or any of his features in general, let alone his name. But she will always cherish him in her heart for inspiring her to continue forward for the future.

Edelgard didn’t realize that while she was caught up in her memories, her facial expression turned softer and a nostalgic smile graced her face.

_ I will always treasure those memories, but sadly what’s good won’t always last… Maybe in another lifetime… _

Edelgard mentally consoled herself before redirecting her attention back onto the group of people around the corner. Her eyebrows furrowed as the rest of the children scampering about had returned to Dimitri, all holding some piece of nature that they could use for practice. She chuckled quietly to herself when she saw a few holding onto the long stems of flowers with the actual petals ripped off.

Those children were all eager to learn from one of the best students attending the academy, and yet she couldn’t keep her eyes from straying back towards the couple of children that weren’t paying attention to the lesson. From her perspective, the children seemed fine, but compared to the energetic ones pretend-fighting, they appeared rather… lonely.

Her heart yearned for those children because she remembered the days where she was practically isolated too. Even when she wasn’t alone didn’t mean she didn’t feel like she was. If it wasn’t for her old friend that took care of her so long ago, she would’ve been so much lonelier.

With those thoughts in her head, Edelgard’s mind began formulating an idea in which she would return the next day to play specifically with those 5 kids so they wouldn’t feel left out.

After all, not everyone liked to practice sparring when they could spend their time just being kids.

One’s innocence and childhood can only last so long.

—————

_ “Do you know what a pinky promise means, ___?” _

_ “Nope, what is it?” _

_ “It’s a really important promise that you can never ever break, because if you do you’ll swallow a thousand needles!” _

_ “Waah! That’s scary!” _

_ “Yeah, so promise me you’ll always be my friend! _

_ “Okay El, I promise. As long as you promise to always be mine!” _

Edelgard jolted awake, her mind muddled as her dreams escaped her. She could feel the beginnings of a headache, so she tried focusing on exactly what might’ve been the cause, but any memories of what happened in her sleep escaped her. Either way, the dream allowed her to wake up much earlier than usual for the day, or maybe it was just the anticipation and excitement for what she had planned for later since it was officially the next day — Sunday, to be precise. To distract herself from the pain forming in her head, she instead busied herself by getting ready while daydreaming about the orphans.

_ I’ll be able to teach and show those children what my dear friend had taught me. I hope that I’ll be able to create happy memories for them. _

She had already finished getting dressed, and was going through the motions of brushing her hair and tying ribbons into it when a knock echoed through her otherwise silent room.

“Yes?”

“Lady Edelgard, breakfast is to be served in the mess halls within the next half hour. It is time to wake up and get ready. After breakfast we will finish up our schoolwork in the library so that you may enjoy the rest of your weekend in peace. I have already prepared a cup of bergamot tea here for you.”

Edelgard smiled at the mention of her favorite tea, and quickly strode over to her locked door and opened it to come face to face with Hubert who as he said, was holding a cup of tea for her.

“Thank you, Hubert. You know that you don’t need to serve me tea every weekend morning, but I appreciate it very much like always,” she said as she blew cool air over the tea before sipping it. Her eyes closed in bliss from the wonderful taste flowing over her taste buds.

“However, there is a change of plans. I won’t be doing schoolwork today, I will save the coursework for later.”

“Milady? What happened?” Hubert asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the last minute change in their otherwise normal weekend.

“I have some personal matters to take care of that will take up the majority of my day after we eat. It’s something I have to take care of myself, so you are free to do whatever you wish for the rest of the day.”

Knowing what Hubert was most likely to say something like: _ “Lady Edelgard, it is my duty to accompany you for your safety and if you need any assistance at any moment of your day I shall be there,” _ Edelgard held up her hand to stop him from speaking.

“Your presence is not needed today, Hubert. Please trust me. I will know if you are watching over me, and I would much rather you spend your time on something _ you _want to do instead of fussing over me. At least just for today. Please?”

Hubert sighed at Edelgard, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose as his eyes closed. A few moments of silence passed between them, only broken by the quiet sips Edelgard took from her tea.

“Alright, as you wish, my lady. I will keep the others from bothering you from whatever task you are up to, and I will keep a record of anything the others may request of you while you are away,” Hubert said, begrudgingly agreeing to Edelgard’s whims.

She bowed her head in thankfulness towards Hubert before stepping fully out of her room, basically ready for the day already.

“Shall we be on our way?”

The duo walked side by side down the corridor towards the mess hall, Edelgard still sipping on her bergamot tea.

Moments later the duo were at the unofficially designated table of the Black Eagles. Edelgard gently placed her teacup down and analyzed the students around as she took a seat next to Dorothea’s right side, while Hubert sat next to her on her own right.

Ferdinand seemed to have successfully brought Bernadetta out of her room for the day, and was now trying to engage Petra in a conversation about the tea in Brigid.

“Now the majority of people prefer to add a teaspoon or two of sugar into their tea, but there are those who add more than five! That just dilutes the taste of the tea leaves, and it might as well be a liquified pastry and not tea any longer.”

“It is a most interesting thing you Fódlan people do with the tea by adding this sugar. In Brigid we like to be giving it honey and lemons. Especially in frigid teas!”

Petra hadn’t fully brushed out and braided her hair yet, most likely due to sleeping in on the weekend. So as she and Ferdinand were discussing teas, she was tying her hair into braids.

Bernadetta had her hoodie up with the strings pulled with the only thing you could see of her was her mouth, so that she could eat the pancakes placed in front of her.

It was honestly an adorable sight watching her nibble on the food every so often.

Sitting beside Edelgard was Dorothea, who was shaking her head in exasperation at watching Caspar try to make a so called “leaning-tower-of-pancakes” that had loads of maple syrup flowing down its sides.

“Don’t play with your food, Caspar! Be thankful that we are given this much food and actually eat it.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I hear ya’! I’m just trying to beat my record of eating 10 of these flapjacks and I need to count them!”

The last Black Eagle member of their inner circle was Linhardt, who had his head buried in a book carefully positioned away from the pancake-maple syrup monstrosity.

“Caspar don’t be a fool. If you eat too much for breakfast, then when you do your regular ridiculous training regime you’ll throw up. Again. Like last time.”

“Shhhh! Linhardt! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

Chuckling at everyone’s antics, Edelgard turned her head to look at what Hubert was doing but then a flash of blue caught her eye.

She quickly turned her head fully to look at what exactly the splash of color was, and saw Dimitri’s shoulder-cape flutter as he strode by. Glancing up at his face, she was surprised to see an annoyed expression on his face that early in the day. Analyzing him further, Edelgard figured that the bags underneath his eyes indicated lack of sleep and explained his irritable mood.

_ He looks troubled this morning. I hope that means it’s even more unlikely that he’ll visit the children today if he’s in a bad mood. Or at the very least take a nap in the afternoon. _

Edelgard didn’t realize she was staring after Dimitri’s form for a while until she felt Dorothea nudge her with her elbow. Blinking rapidly as she felt the dryness in her eyes from staring, Edelgard turned towards Dorothea who had an eyebrow quirked up.

“Is everything okay, Edie? You were zoning out pretty intensely there… or were you staring at His Highness?” Dorothea asking, using a teasing tone at the end of her question.

Edelgard felt herself flush from being caught and shook her head in disagreement with what Dorothea asked.

“Of course not! I had merely woken up early this morning, making it difficult for me to focus on things at the moment. There’s no need to worry.”

“Hmm, alright. Just checking up on you since you do seem pretty out of it. In fact you haven’t even touched the plate of pancakes the chefs have prepared today!”

As Dorothea said, right in front of Edelgard was a plate of pancakes covered with strawberries and condensed cream that Hubert had undoubtedly prepared during her daze.

_ Hmm, this is unusual. I don’t feel like eating strawberries today… I’m craving blueberries more at the moment. _Just as Edelgard thought that, she unconsciously glanced back up at Dimitri’s direction and saw the back of his broad shoulders with one covered by a blue cape.

Edelgard shook her head to refocus and quickly turned to her right and gave her thanks to Hubert for his help preparing her breakfast, then turned back towards Dorothea to continue their conversation.

“I can assure you that all is well, but thank you for checking up on me, Dorothea,” Edelgard said, giving Dorothea a small smile.

In return Dorothea gave her a chipper grin before divulging to her about the latest ridiculous gift she was given by yet another suitor she’s never met.

Eventually Dorothea returned to her own breakfast plate to finish, allowing Edelgard the time to focus on her own plate, but during their conversation it reminded Edelgard about the likelihood of her having an arranged marriage and her mood soured.

—————

An hour later, the rest of the Black Eagles had finished their breakfast and left the mess hall, including Hubert. All except Edelgard, who didn’t have much of an appetite that morning. Which was most likely from the mixed feelings of anxiety, excitement, and irritation, as well as having been busy placating Hubert who was trying to make her eat more than she desired to.

_ Hubert truly does worry too much over my wellbeing. Hopefully today will be good for him so he could relax without my presence stressing him out.  
_

_ Maybe I should’ve asked Ferdinand if he would be willing to spend some time with Hubert today to ensure that Hubert at least gets a tea or coffee break today... _

Sighing, Edelgard stood up with her half-finished plate and started to shuffle over towards the kitchen to clean her utensils and plate. The feelings of anxiety and excitement for her playdate ideas still lingered along with irritation at the thought of forced political love, so she wasn’t feeling all that much there at that moment.

_ Maybe Dorothea was correct, I do feel slightly out of sorts, but it’s nothing I cannot handle. _

“Edelgard!”

“What is- w-wha!?”

While Edelgard was too focused on analyzing her emotions, she didn’t notice the littered napkin on the ground in her path, so when she turned to face whoever called her name, she slipped and fell on the napkin.

Right into someone’s arms.

“Are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?”

Arms tightened around her waist before moving back so hands were holding onto her waist instead to steady her.

When she got ahold of her bearings, Edelgard looked up and was surprised to find it was Dimitri himself that caught her. She could feel a blush appearing on her face from the embarrassment of slipping and being caught unaware.

It didn’t have anything to do with the large hands carefully holding her.

Obviously.

Moments later Edelgard felt the hands that caught her around her middle help her settle her onto her feet entirely, and then released her.

“Y-Yes… I am alright. Thank you for catching me,” she said, bowing her head in gratitude.

When she lifted her head to look at him, he had a small, revelieved grin aimed towards her.

“Thank the Goddess. I must apologize for surprising you earlier and almost causing an accident there. I was just trying to get your attention so that you would not slip on the napkin, but alas…”

She shook her head at him.

“Please don’t apologize. There’s no need for it because it was due to my own inability of watching where I was walking that caused me to fall. Thank you again for catching me though.”

All Dimitri did in response was chuckle and then lifted one of his hands to awkwardly scratch at one of his cheeks.

“I suppose we may have to agree to disagree? After all, I _ was _ the one that called your name at the inopportune moment of you stepping onto the napkin.”

“Hmph, fine. I will accept your needless apology since you’re still insisting on it being your wrongdoing, but know that I don’t blame you. Now, was there anything else you needed or was the warning all?”

At Edelgard’s question, Dimitri’s posture slouched ever so slightly as if he lost some of his steam. His grin grew ever smaller, possibly even sadder when she observed his changed state.

_ Did I say something that offended him? What did I say wrong? _

She was about to ask him the very question she thought, but he quickly replied to her previous question.

“That was all…,” Dimitri paused for a second to think before continuing, “Well actually, I do have a question. Do you have anything planned for today?”

Edelgard felt taken aback by Dimitri’s question, after all why would he want to know about what she’s up to?

_ Does he know that I’m planning to visit the orphans later? No, it can’t be, I haven’t told anyone about it and I’m sure that he never saw me watching them yesterday. I can’t tell him what I’ll be doing otherwise he might assume I’m doing something nefarious to the children… or more logically he would catch me playing children’s games and _ nobody _ can catch me doing that as a von Hresvelg. _

_ What could I use as an excuse though? I’ve already told Hubert to leave so it’s obvious I’m not doing any Black Eagles activities. _

Thinking quickly, Edelgard made up a viable lie of what she was going to do the day:

“I-I’m planning a picnic later. I was waiting until everyone else left to clean my dishes and then begin the process of making some hand food. I didn’t want Hubert hovering over my shoulder, as I’m sure you can understand with your retainer.”

Internally Edelgard was cheering herself on. _ Good job, El! You can make food for you and the kids for lunch. _

“Oh? A picnic? That sounds splendid! What is it for?”

_ Oh. Hm. I didn’t quite think that out… _

“It’s… for a surprise for one of the Black Eagles. They’re feeling homesick so a picnic may cheer them up,” Edelgard lied, internally sweatdropping at her white lie.

Dimitri smiled at her again, and then said, “The Black Eagles are fortunate to have you as their leader looking out for them, Edelgard. Would you like any assistance in making the food? I’m certainly no Dedue or Mercedes in the kitchen, but I’m sure I can handle simple hand food.”

Edelgard was surprised at his offer, and even more surprised that she didn’t feel inclined to reject his offer — at all. Especially when earlier that day she was rejecting Hubert’s assistance.

“... I won’t be… _ opposed _ to your aid in the kitchen, but don’t feel obligated to help if this is merely because of my minor spill earlier. I can handle everything myself, I’m not as clumsy in the kitchen as you saw me a second ago.”

Dimitri just shook his head at her and chuckled, before breezing past her into the kitchen.

She stood there frozen for a second at his lack of a response, before turning around and following after him into it.

When she entered the kitchen, Dimitri stood by the sink with his gauntlets and gloves laid aside with his sleeves rolled up so he could wash his hands. Edelgard carefully eyed his forearms that were revealed, surprisingly muscled.

Shaking her head before she could continue that train of thought she was having about his arms, Edelgard strode over to him and washed her hands clean as well once he was done.

“So what are you planning on making exactly?”

Edelgard walked over to the pantry and the ice chests to look at what ingredients were available, and consulted Dimitri.

“The most simple and easiest dishes to make would be finger foods such as sandwiches, or assorted fruit, or vegetables with dips like melted cheese…” Edelgard raised a finger at each example, but trailed off thinking about how she was craving the sweet bun trio.

Dimitri gave her an encouraging gesture to try and get her to continue listing more from where she left off.

Edelgard flushed slightly as she finished her list by saying, “... and I’m sure desserts wouldn’t hurt either. I’m partial to the sweet buns native to Faerghus.”

She expected judgement coming from him when she essentially admitted her sweet craving, but all he did was widen his eyes, before giving her a serene smile. Although the smile didn’t seem to reach all the way to his eyes, instead there was another emotion displayed.

Maybe he was surprised at her sweet tooth, or her knowledge of Faerghus cuisine?

“All of the things you listed sound easy enough for us to handle. Concerning the dessert you’d like… I had it quite often as a child because of a dear friend of mine. I’m sure we won’t encounter any trouble, after all how complex baking some sugary buns and filling it with a sweet substance be?”

The entire time Dimitri was talking, he had a soft look on his face — as if he was remembering the old friend he mentioned.

Edelgard could relate to that, thinking about her own childhood friend that indulged her sweet cravings by giving her some sweet buns every time they met. Her friend would only bring a trio of the treat, with both of them having one each and then splitting the third bun between them. She could practically taste the buns in her mouth at that very moment.

Without her awareness, Dimitri was continuing on with his commentary. “... so let’s split up the work. I can get started on getting the ingredients out for the desse-“

Edelgard quickly interrupted him by saying, “I’d rather us work together on the food so there isn’t any miscommunication when making the separate food.”

Dimitri quickly relented his proposal and nodded his head. “Alright, so would you like to begin with making the main food for your friend? Is there anything they’re particular homesick for? Also is there anything they’re allergic against?”

Edelgard internally cursed, not knowing if any of the children were allergic to something. She was thankful that Dimitri brought it up or else she might’ve made something that one of them may be allergic to — such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

“Unfortunately I don’t have any knowledge of their dietary restrictions, but I’m sure if we keep it as simple as…” blanking, Edelgard thought back to her childhood for some inspiration and remembered that her old friend would often snack on grilled cheese sandwiches, “... grilled cheese sandwiches, then it would do no harm.”

Dimitri’s eyes lit up at the mention of the cheesy dish before speaking.

“That was one of my favorite foods as a child! My nannies would use a variety of cheeses all the time to see which ones I’d like the most since I would always request them.”

Edelgard felt her mouth tilt into a slight smile while watching Dimitri become excited about mere sandwiches filled with melted cheese. His actions made her miss her dear friend, but she shouldn’t be thinking about them, she needed to focus on her task.

“Too bad that you and your friend are going on a picnic, otherwise I’d recommend dishes such as some Cheesy Verona Stew or Gautier Cheese Gratin,” Dimitri said, his hand slowly coming up to his stomach as if it comfort it from its cheesy cravings.

A giggle escaped her at Dimitri’s actions and words, finding it silly how much he craved cheese. Edelgard wondered if her friend was still as obsessed with cheese as Dimitri was at that moment.

The sound of laughter broke her out of her thoughts and when she looked up, she saw Dimitri chuckling to himself while looking a tad embarrassed.

“My apologies for my ramblings. I didn’t mean to be so aggressive in my recommendation of food.”

“It’s okay, Dimitri. You weren’t being aggressive at all, just… passionate about dairy. Now, let us begin before the sun reaches its peak, I would like to be able to have the picnic sometime today,” Edelgard announced as she got some key ingredients out for the picnic.

Dimitri joined her and helped her grab the remaining necessary ingredients for the food, their hands brushing every so often.

“Thank you for helping me, especially when I’m sure you have more important tasks to attend to during a weekend.”

“Please, think nothing of it, I’m always happy to help. You merely need to ask for it, Edelgard.”

—————

Much later, Edelgard and Dimitri parted ways from the entrance of the mess hall; Dimitri heading down one hallway and Edelgard down the other.

With Dimitri’s help, they were successful in making an abundance of melted cheese sandwiches to go along with some containers of tomato soup, to be washed down with clean well water, and to finish off their lunch with some sweet buns. As well as cut up vegetables as a side dish since the children would need more nutrients. Edelgard felt her stomach grumble quietly at the last thought, and she felt herself flush, thankful that no one was around to hear her cravings.

As she walked down the corridor, Edelgard felt a lot lighter than she had been for awhile. Almost as if all her troubles and tribulations weighing down on her shoulders were gone — at least for the moment. The past hour she spent with Dimitri was a lot more productive and dare she say it, _ pleasant _ than she expected. A surprise honestly, since the majority of their previous conversations were passing quips at one another as rivals, or just small talk.

Their conversations had helped distract her from her heiress and leadership duties constantly pressuring her, to the point she had even forgotten that they were making food for the children. Well, food for her “classmate” since only she knew that she was visiting the orphans.

Rounding multiple corners and walking briskly with a purpose, Edelgard soon found herself in the fields outside of the orphanage. To her luck, the five children she saw the previous day were outside playing again. More precisely, playing by themselves almost secreted away against the wall, whilst the rest of the children were all playing a large game of tag together.

Mustering up her courage and taking a deep breath in, Edelgard walked towards the children.

The children quickly heard the footsteps heading their way and when they turned their heads, they were all surprised to see another monastery student coming towards them. They looked at one another, as if they were silently asking each other if they should leave the area, but they stayed in place — undoubtedly curious about what she could want with them.

When Edelgard made eye contact with the group of children, she gave them a tender smile so that they wouldn’t be afraid of her, and then she kneeled down in front of them while placing the basket of food beside her.

Maybe instinctively, the children all smiled back at her and she could see the tension in their bodies leave them, as if her smiling indicated she wasn’t going to do them any harm.

She wished she could be that naive and innocent again.

“H’llo, missy! Who are ya’?” a high-pitched voice disrupted her minor angst session, and when she lifted her head to see who was speaking, she almost hit her head against the child speaking.

Edelgard quickly tilted back on the balls of her feet to avoid a collision before rebalancing herself onto her knees.

“A-Ah. Good morning! My name is Edelgard von Hresvelg, heiress to the Adrestian Empire as its future Emperor, and the leader of the Black Eagles of the Garreg Mach Monastery. It’s nice to meet you all. May I have all of your names?” Edelgard quickly regained her bearings and formally introduced herself to the children.

The one that almost knocked their head against hers was a tiny, little girl dressed up in a simple brown dress with her brown eyes gleaming and her blonde locks tied up in a set of pigtails.

“M’name is Carrie, with duh C! I’m tuning fiyh this year!”

A child that stood by Carrie came forward and introduced themselves as well. They wore black shorts and a green sweater, which complemented their short, black hair and dark green eyes.

“Hiya! My name is Damian, and I’m already six years old!” the boy exclaimed while holding up only one hand indicating the number five, “I like playing hide and seek!”

Another child came closer towards the three of them to introduce themselves as well, but then he almost tripped. Edelgard immediately held her arms out to help catch the boy, but before he could fall fully onto his face, he stumbled a bit and was able to steady himself onto his feet. The brunet boy with blue eyes seemed very clumsy, being covered with very minor bruises while having a big smile on his face as large spectacles slid down his face.

“S’tho you’re a princeth? I’ve alwayth wanted to meet one! Thithter Petunia alwayth tellth bedtime thories about princetheth, knighths, dragonths, and more,” he said while appearing to have lisp, before introducing himself further. “You can call me Roderick, but all my friendth call me Ricky!”

The only other girl besides Carrie crowded around them too, balancing herself on her tiptoes trying to see above the kids already in front of her. From what she could tell, the girl had dark grey hair and eyes. She started waving her arm to get Edelgard’s attention, and once she got that she gave Edelgard a toothy grin.

“Hi, Your Highness! What are you doing here? How old are you? What food do you like? What’s your favorite color? Can you dance? Will you be my friend?” the girl talked rapidly.

Edelgard felt slightly overwhelmed at the onslaught of questions, and was about to reply to them all when the girl interrupted her before she could even open her mouth.

“Do you wanna know my name? It’s Ahnilee! Do you wanna know how old I am? I’m 6 and 3 quarters, Sister Guineline told me that!” she answered before Edelgard could even say that she did want to know her name and age.

The last child remained in place of where he was originally, Edelgard only seeing him out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head, the boy ducked his head down and gripped the bottom of his white shirt, shaking ever so slightly.

Edelgard felt herself soften at the sight, and slowly got up and headed towards the boy before squatting down a few feet away to give him some space.

The boy had flinched when she came by him, but moments passed in silence and eventually he peeked his head up out of the scarf around his neck. Bright pink eyes slightly obscured behind strawberry blonde hair met her own lilac eyes. Immediately the eye contact broke off when the boy glanced back down, but he wasn’t hiding behind his scarf anymore.

“... It’s nice to meet you, I’m not sure if you heard me earlier, but I’m Edelgard. May I have the privilege to know your name, please?”

Edelgard could hear a voice as quiet as a mouse say something in front of her, although she couldn’t hear exactly what they said.

“My apologies, but I didn’t quite catch that, can you please repeat it?”

“... I-I’m Louie…”

Edelgard smiled hearing him speak louder. “Thank you for telling me what your name is, I know that takes a lot of courage. I’m happy to meet you all,” she said as she glanced back towards the other children, slightly surprised that no other children had come to join to see the commotion the other four had made.

In fact, all the other children were curiously watching her, but the instant they saw her looking at them, they all quickly turned away and continued playing whatever game or focusing on whatever they were previously before she came.

Strange.

Looking back at the other four, they didn’t seem surprised that the other kids didn’t join them. If anything it seemed as if they were used to being by themselves.

Back in front of her, she heard shuffling and felt small hands hold onto her leggings. When she turned around, she saw Louie shyly holding onto her, his head still facedown. Slowly he brought his head up to look at her, his eyes wet with unspilled tears.

“... T-They don’t like playing w-with us… W-Will you p-please?” he asked quietly, his lip wobbling.

Edelgard felt her heart crack at the words, and quickly nodded her head in agreeance. She had no idea what the dynamics between the children were like, but what the child said partially explained why they weren’t a part of the group of children playing tag in the field.

“Before we play, may I have the help of one of you? I have a gift in here to give in a couple of hours, but I need to put it in an ice box. Can one of you please direct me to your kitchen’s location?”

Eagerly, the other four children clambered onto her lap along with Louie, all vying for her attention.

Edelgard felt herself being overwhelmed from the petite hands tugging her back and forth in different directions, with the various children insisting on being the one to assist her. Gathering her wits about her, she interjected:

“Or maybe you can all help me! A princess needs her knights to show her the right path, correct?”

She felt slightly silly following the basic tropes of common fairy tales, but all of the children seemed excited to be called knights and to help her. They all immediately let go, but still crowded around her with giant smiles on their faces.

_ Maybe they’re all excited to have gained a new friend? I feel like I’m slightly out of my capabilities, but as long as we all have fun and no one gets hurt I will say this venture will be a success. _

She used her hand to shoo them away slightly, before standing up and grabbing the basket in one hand and using the other to gesture to the building in front of them that the orphans stayed at.

“Will my brave knights please show me the way down to the… room filled with icy treasure boxes filled with tasty… treasure?” she said, feeling awkward trying to phrase things to make it interesting to a child. As well as cringing at her limited vocabulary.

Carrie giggled at her diction, but turned towards the entrance of the orphanage and skipped inside. Damian immediately followed her lead and ran inside with… his arms held out behind him almost horizontally as he bent his back? Edelgard has never seen anybody ever run in that manner, but each to their own. Maybe it was a fad amongst the children.

Ricky ran to the entrance as well, waving at her from where he stood and then gave her a ‘come-hither’ motion. He patiently stood there as Louie held her only free hand to slowly direct her towards the building.

Looking around her immediate vicinity, she saw that Ahnilee was missing, but then she saw her pop out her head from behind the basket.

“Ah!” Edelgard gasped in shock.

“Teehee, I scared you! You were scared right? Am I scary? Do you like scaring people too?” Ahnilee asked yet another set of questions.

“Haha… Yes, you did indeed scare me. But please refrain from doing it again, especially when I’m carrying your gift. I may accidentally injure you or break something if I get too scared, okay?”

Pouting slightly, Ahnilee agreed to her whims and continued walking beside her and Louie as they caught up to Ricky.

“Damian and Carrie thaid they’re gonna go on ahead to look for any thieveths that want to get your treathure, Princeth! Don’t worry, the rest of uth will thtay here to protect you!” Ricky exclaimed, his arms spread wide as he declared where Damian and Carrie had disappeared off to.

The quarter walked into the building with three of the children (Louie, Ahnilee, and Ricky) staying by her while the other two (Carrie and Damian) went on ahead as if they were scouts.

It was rather adorable, she could admit.

Down the hall she spotted Carrie rocking back and forth on her heels, her arms hanging behind her as she waited in place. She wouldn’t be surprised if Carrie was singing a song or humming one either, her behavior reminding her slightly of the ginger haired girl in Blue Lions.

Looking for the other child that went ahead, she saw Damian slowly sneaking down the hall, trying to use the shadows made from the light filtering through the windows as a way to slink by. He even had the forethought to duck behind furniture and pillars whenever a nun passed by, all seeming to be used to his antics because they chuckled whenever they passed by his hidden location.

What was intriguing was that whenever one was coming towards her, she saw that they were going to inquire about her being there, but Damian would suddenly make an… unusual, animal-like sound from wherever he was hidden. When he did, immediately the nuns seemed to understand whatever secret message Damian was passing to them; thus they would just pass by her without questioning her of her presence.

Again, strange.

Soon enough the quarter caught up with Carrie and Damian who immediately reported to her, which she couldn’t help but internally fawn over.

_ These children are well versed in how scouts and knights have to act… I wonder if Dimitri has anything to do with it… Either way, they’re being quite cute with their hard work and determination. _

“Der’ were nuh people here! Ex’shept for duh chef, but he good,” Carrie reported, a pleased expression on her face from her successful self-imposed scouting mission.

Next to her Damian rapidly nodded his head in agreement. “Sisters Candice and Ymir almost caught you, but don’t worry I scared them off! Oh I mean… uh…,” Damian said, a confused expression on his face as he didn’t know how to describe what happened differently.

“... Damian wath thaying that he kept you thafe from the thieveths that we pathsed by! Right, Dami?” Ricky interjected was he saved his friend from his vocal stumble.

Damian gave him a grateful grin and said, “Yeah! That!” and then turned back to her with an expectant look on his face. A look that matched what Carrie looked like at that moment as well.

Edelgard didn’t quite know what to do, but she figured that they were both looking for recognition or an award of some sorts for their hard work. Chuckling, she let go of Louie’s hand, which immediately went to hold onto her legs, and patted both Carrie and Damian on the heads while smiling at them.

“You both did an impeccable job in keeping your princess and her treasures safe. You three did a great job in keeping me safe too, as well as guiding me to my destination. Thank you all for your hard work,” she murmured as she patted each of the children on the head. She didn’t know if that was how one interacted with children, but they reminded her of puppies seen in the Market that some of the Black Eagles play with and pet on the head in the same manner she was doing to these kids.

After giving her gratitude, she ventured forward and opened the door to the kitchen, holding it open for the children to step into underneath her arms. Then she followed them inside, and saw the chef that Carrie mentioned before busy slicing what seemed to be vegetables on a cutting board.

“Please stay here and… guard the door while I talk with the… keeper of this room to see if they’ll give me permission to use it,” she ordered, not wanting the children to see the surprise she had in the basket just yet. They might have figured that there’s food in there already, but they wouldn’t know what exactly was inside the basket just yet.

Edelgard walked forward and stood a couple of steps away from the chef, and nervously coughed to get their attention.

“Hm?” the chef hummed in answer as they continued cutting up the ingredients for whatever dish they were going to make.

“Good day, sir. I am Edelgard von Hresvelg, and I have some food in this basket I would like to keep under your care until later this afternoon for lunch. If I may be so presumptuous to ask for your assistance,” she whispered so that the children couldn’t hear her.

She watched the chef’s back tense up in shock when she said her name, and then they placed their knife down and turned around in a hurried manner. They bowed deeply to her before standing up, looking at her face to face.

“I’m so sorry, Your Highness! I was never notified that you were… coming to visit. Food? Ah yes, you can keep your…,” the chef trailed off, glancing down at the basket she held in her arms before continuing, “... basket here in the kitchen. I assure you that nothing will happen with it.”

Grateful for his help, Edelgard bowed her head down as she said, “Thank you for your hospitality, sir. I will be back in a couple of hours for the basket, so please hold onto it until I return. My apologies for taking up your time and space, but I won’t be able to keep an eye on the basket and make sure the things inside don’t spoil while I have… other matters to attend to.”

The chef just waved her aside and gave her a full-belly laugh, “Hohoho! Oh please, no need to apologize! I’m happy to help a _ princess _ anytime. In fact, it’s an honor to be able to hold onto your food, as I’m sure not many have had that chance! I will see you then.”

The chef then turned around and returned to his work of cutting up food.

After their conversation, Edelgard set the basket of food beside the chef on the counter, and then returned to the children standing guard at the doorway. Damian and Ricky were propped up on top of one another, their heads peeking out the doorway, presumably to peek out and keep watch; while the other three kids remained in place having watched the exchange between her and the chef. Once she got close enough, Louie and Carrie grabbed ahold of one of her hands each.

“Now that our first mission has been a success, why don’t I assign another one for you all to handle?” Edelgard began as they left the kitchen and began walking down the corridors.

Carrie was humming the tune she was earlier while swinging her hand connected to Edelgard’s, showing no indication that she was listening to what she just said.

On the other hand, Louie’s eyes were entirely focused on her, big and teary eyed.

Ahnilee jumped around and immediately began questioning her, “Ooh, what is it? Can I guess what it is? Can I choose what it is? I-”

Before Ahnilee could continue, Damian cut her off by saying, “Shhhhh, let the princess say what she was gonna say!” while holding his hand up to Ahnilee’s mouth to cover it and stop her from speaking. Ahnilee looked like she was pouting, but Edelgard couldn’t tell exactly since the lower half of Ahnilee’s face was hidden by Damian’s hand.

“Thank you, Sir Damian. Now, this second mission is something you children most likely have a lot of experience in that I do not. In fact, I may require your help in this endeavor, because I may personally fail this mission quickly,” Edelgard announced, keeping the children in suspense for the time being.

Damian and Ahnilee immediately began jumping up and down in excitement, both of their hands waving in the air as if they were in a classroom and were trying to get the professor’s attention to be called on to answer something or ask a question. However Damian’s excitement might’ve been unofficially being dubbed as a knight.

Edelgard smiled while shaking her head ‘no’ at the rambunctious duo, which caused them to quiet down and deflate from their enthusiastic state.

“What this second mission is…,” Edelgard paused in suspense, the children leaning in even closer to hear her better, “... is to play hide and seek!”

Surprised at their next mission being a game they all enjoyed, Damian especially according to his introduction earlier, the children began cheering in the hallway. Their high-pitched voices making a ruckus in the otherwise quiet corridor.

Edelgard was about to ask the quintet if any of them would like to be the ‘it’ person seeking everyone else, but the kids beat her to it.

“NOT IT!” various, tiny voices screamed at each other, all of the kids holding one of their index fingers up to the button of their nose. Even Louie had used his free hand and surprisingly joined in on this… unusual mini-game that the kids seemed to be playing that decided upon who the seeker was going to be. At least for the first round depending upon how many games they can fit in before lunchtime.

From what Edelgard saw, Ricky was the last of the children that put his finger up to his nose, which he seemed to realize as he blew a raspberry out at the other four while his cheeks were puffed out from frustration and air.

“Okie-dokie, Ricky is ‘it’ t’day, Missy!” Carrie told her while tugging on her arm.

“Teehee! Do you wanna know the best hiding spots, Your Highness? Well, do ya’? Too bad, those spots are alllll for me! I’m gonna win!” Ahnilee yelled out right before she ran off and disappeared behind a corner inside the building.

“Ah, Ahnilee! Please keep to inside the building! We don’t want any of you to get lost or hurt being outside by yourselves!” Edelgard called after her, hoping that her voice was able to carry down far enough to where Ahnilee heard her.

While that happened, Ricky turned around to face a wall and stood really close to it. The only distance between him and the wall being his hands covering his eyes... or well, his glasses. As Edelgard analyzed him briefly, she heard him counting down from 25.

“...25 Ah-dreth-ti-an… 24 Ah-dreth-ti-an… 23-”* Ricky counted backwards aloud.

“Carrie is gonna g’to somewha secret! Buh-bey now!” Carrie told Edelgard and the others before going down the opposite way where Ahnilee went, leaving Edelgard alone with the boys.

“HAH! Well _ I’m _ gonna win, because I’m the CHAMPION at hide and seek. The others will tell you!” Damian gloated. “You guys will never find me, hahaha!” he continued as he too followed the others’ lead and went off to who knows where in order to hide.

Looking down, with still 20 seconds to spare, Edelgard stared at Louie who stared back up at her. She sighed and gave him a small smile.

“Any chance that you’ll take on the mission on helping me find a hiding spot since I don’t know this building very well? We can hide together too, if you’d prefer.”

Louie just gave her a determined nod, before going forward while still holding onto her hand. They turned around a corner and went through a closed door that lead to what seemed to be hidden-but-not-quite stairs. Once they took the stairs, Louie led her down another hallway that had two doors on either side at the end.

Louie pointed at one of the doors and Edelgard got his message, going towards the door he pointed at but stopped when she felt his hand pull out of hers.

“Louie?” she asked in concern, but in reply Louie only shook his head.

“... I-I’ll be okay… I have s-s-somewhere e-else to hide… b-but it’s too small f-for you…” he stuttered quietly.

“Oh my, okay. You better hurry and get there before Roderick finds you. Thank you so much for giving me your assistance, as well as successfully completing this mission,” she said as she patted him on the head.

Louie smiled up at her when she thanked him, causing his eyes to squint as if… as if his eyes themselves were smiling at her in an eye-smile type fashion.

_ He’s really cute. _

Then he turned around and hightailed it out of that area, undoubtedly heading towards another location where hopefully Ricky wouldn’t find him.

Edelgard turned back to the door that Louie gestured to before and then opened it. When she opened it, a cloud of stale dust seemed to hover in the air, but otherwise everything appeared to be a normal, small coat closet. Or at least from what she could presume since there were no cleaning supplies or toiletries that she could identify that would be in a broom closet. However, the size of the closet seemed to be even smaller width and height-wise than one would normally be, or at least one would be at Garreg Mach Monastery.

Either way, she had no other place to hide and so she ducked inside. Dust immediately got into her nose, causing her to sneeze violently and stumble further into the closet from the force of the sneeze.

_ SLAM _

Shocked at the loud bang, Edelgard turned around, and saw that the closet door was shut on her. Looking around, she tried to see if she could even see anything in general, but failed. With the combination of the pitch-black darkness and tight closet space, she felt rather claustrophobic. To try and mend that, she felt around for the doorknob of the door, and once her hand grabbed onto it, she tried twisting, pushing, and pulling the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge. Even with all the strength she built up from training to use her axe was of no help opening the door, let alone breaking it.

She was stuck there.

_ Of course, just my luck that I happened to be caught stuck in a place I can’t escape from while trying to stay hidden in a game… No matter. Ricky will eventually find either me or Louie, and if he finds me first then he can help me escape. But if he finds Louie first, Louie can direct him my way which will eventually lead to my freedom either way. _

Shifting uncomfortably, Edelgard crossed her arms, rubbing her hands against them to calm herself down slightly from the panic she felt. From what she could tell, the floor was littered with miscellaneous boxes, but she still tried manoeuvring down to be able to sit on the floor. However the space in the closet was too tight for even that, so she was stuck standing upright for however long she was stuck in there.

Eons seemed to pass in total silence, both inside the closet as well as outside as she strained her ears for any sound of the familiar voices of the children, or at the very least one of the nuns. Yet only silence was her company. She couldn’t even tell if only half an hour had passed or if hours had gone by while in the darkness.

The cramped, dark space reminded her of… worse times. Yet it was definitely nothing like _ then, _ so she could deal with it.

Worst comes to worst, she should be able to yell out at any passerby in the hallway and they may help her escape.

Hopefully.

Another eternity passed by with Edelgard slumped up against one of the walls of the closet, before she heard footsteps coming down the hallway in her direction. She immediately perked up, standing at full attention on her feet in awaited excitement of finally being released from the dusty darkness. She could only hope that whoever’s footsteps that were heading her way would open her door, and not the other door on the opposite side of the hall.

To her luck, she heard the footsteps stop in front of her door. Or maybe that was just her own auditory delusion.

_ Creek _

“... Edelgard!?”

“Dimitri!?”

The duo awkwardly stared at one another, then they both opened their mouths about to say something to the other, and abruptly closed them when they noticed the other was going to speak — all at the same time.

“Please, you may speak first,” Dimitri insisted, even though between the two of them he had more reason to question her about her presence there versus her questioning why he was there.

Edelgard sighed, opening her mouth to reply as she shifted back slightly in a more relaxed posture, but she accidentally stepped back onto the edge of a box causing her to stumble backwards. When that happened, Dimitri immediately pushed himself forward to help catch Edelgard before she hit her head against the wall — which he succeeded in.

However, when he did that, he fully entered the already small closet causing the door to shut before him.

_ Oh. No. _

She felt one of Dimitri’s hands clutch the back of her head, the right hand resting against the wall where he helped protect the back of her head from hitting the wall a moment ago. His left arm was held up against her shoulder blades while the left hand was holding tightly onto her shoulder. Due to the tiny space they were in, the proximity between the two was closer than they were ever before. Even closer than when he caught her this morning.

Her face was pressed up against his chest, with the rest of their bodies pressed uncomfortably close to one another.

Flustered from their proximity, Edelgard brought her hands up to Dimitri’s chest to try and push herself back, but due to her back already pressed up against the wall, she had little success. Instead she tried pushing Dimitri back, but once again was met with little success once she heard his back hit the door from where he came.

The same door that she was once so close to escaping through.

Tense silence surrounded the two, before she felt Dimitri’s grip loosen on her. He was even able to retract his arms to his sides, but due to him being forced to bend down due to the low ceiling and his tall height, he was falling ever so slightly her way. Dimitri quickly caught himself however, putting his arms up on either side of her head from what she could tell from hearing his hands hit the wall behind her.

Their position reminded her a lot of that one… ‘kabedon’ pose that she’s heard Shamir once describe her people’s posturing methods with. Shamir had even gone as far as demonstrating the pose on Thunderbrand Catherine, which had caused the blonde to become horribly red and embarrassed.

A fond memory, even though she wasn’t close with either of those women.

Unlike how close she was with Dimitri, physically speaking, at least in that moment.

“M-My apologies, Edelgard! I had not meant to intrude on your space, I only desired to assist you in your fall.”

The unsaid words of: ‘like I helped you this morning’ hung in the air.

Edelgard felt Dimitri’s hot breath brush over her ear, and felt herself redden. If anybody opened the door at that very moment, the two of them would undoubtedly be caught up in a scandal of great proportions with the both of them being opposing heirs and house leaders.

They most likely appeared as… a couple trying to ‘hook-up’ so to speak.

Trying to distract herself from the direction her train of thoughts were taking her, she sighed, and pressed her back further up against the wall, turning her head so she could stop feeling Dimitri’s breath on her face.

“I appreciate your effort. However because of your actions, now we are _ both _ stuck in this closet for an undetermined period of time,” she told him the unfortunate news.

Although she couldn’t see him and therefore his expressions in the darkness, she wouldn’t have been surprised if what she just said had confused him.

“Pardon me?”

“... We are essentially wedged into this coat closet of sorts until someone else happens to open up the door that you had. When the door closes, it gets locked from the inside.”

A few seconds pass before he responded with, “You wield an axe, which requires a respectable amount of strength to carry and fight with constantly. Were you unable to even break open the door?”

“No, but you are welcome to try it if you believe that it’s as simple as that,” she scoffed, feeling slightly insulted at what she viewed as a dig at her intelligence and her strength.

“My apologies once again, I hadn’t meant to offend you. I was merely inquiring what methods you have used to try and leave,” Dimitri apologized as he heard her aggressive tone.

She said nothing in response.

“... I do not mean to boast, but my comrades have said that I have an absurd amount of strength, possibly built up from my rigorous training as a child or from my crest, but I can try breaking open the door myself,” he confessed.

“You have no need to announce it to me, Dimitri. You don’t need my permission to try and get the both of us out of this situation,” she said, still feeling huffy.

Edelgard heard Dimitri shuffle in the darkness by pulling his arms back on either side of her head as he tried turning around, but he only made it as far as his shoulder knocking against her own and him being unable to turn around entirely — only partially.

Dimitri struggled to try and turn around without making contact with her body, but when that didn’t work he tried moving the two of them around so he could face the door with no success. She felt the warmth of his palms grasp onto her shoulders, moving her side-to-side and back-and-forth, which didn’t move her much considering how crowded the closet space was. Soon enough she heard him give up and turn back around to his original position. Which also included him placing his hands on either side of her head for better balance, his face close to hers once again. Quickly she turned her face to look towards the side once again.

She was grateful for the darkness in that instance, otherwise she’s sure that her flustered state would have been embarrassingly visible.

An awkward silence passed once again, neither of them saying anything when Dimitri failed too at opening up the door. Although she was sure that if he was given the space to properly face the door, he would’ve been able to break it down. After all she does know of the infamous strength he had described earlier.

It would’ve been foolish of her to not be aware of her potential opponent’s strength, even when they were supposed comrades for the time being.

“... I believe that you had something you were meaning to tell me earlier, before you fell,” Dimitri said in the dead silence.

She had entirely forgotten that she was going to say something to him before she fell, but thanks to his reminder she remembered what she was going to ask him.

“Yes, you’re correct. I was planning to question you on your presence in this building, and why you opened the door to this closet specifically,” she told him.

“I see,” he said while chuckling. “Well to be frankly honest, I was visiting the orphans that live in this orphanage, but when I came here a nun was in need of some assistance and thus I volunteered. She told me that she needed a spare broom from one of the closets upstairs, so it was by mere coincidence that I chose this closet you happened to be in. What… What about you? I thought you were going to have a picnic with one of your fellow Black Eagle members today?” he asked her.

Mentally arguing with herself, Edelgard debated on whether telling him the true reason as to why she was there, or to continue her white lie that had already come and bitten her in the behind.

Knowing that keeping up the white lie would be futile after mentally consulting herself, Edelgard decided to tell him the truth.

“... If we are being honest here, then the picnic we made earlier wasn’t for any of the Black Eagles. The food we made is for some of the orphan children I was planning to spend the day with,” she murmured quietly. However, in the silence of their surroundings, she might as well have been talking at her normal volume. She refused to tell him who explicitly she was spending time with, because she was sure that if she told him about the children that he had unconsciously neglected the other day, he would be riddled with guilt. Or even worse, he would want to spend the day with the children or vice versa.

“Oh?” she heard his voice say in curiosity. “I had never imagined that you would be doing this today. You had no need to fabricate a lie about a homesick student you were helping, Edelgard. If you told me straight out that you were making food for the children, I would’ve helped you all the same,” Dimitri promised.

She didn’t quite know how to tell him that she wanted to avoid any contact with him while playing with the children, so she remained silent.

Instead, she changed the topic.

“Maybe if we both try stepping our feet in different directions, we may be able to turn fully where you can face the door. Unfortunately my back would be to it, with me being in between you and the door,” she offered another possible way to escape.

Dimitri agreed to her plan, and so they slowly followed it. She lifted her hands to grab onto his shoulders to help indicate which direction she was going to go as she took a step to the left towards the door. In return, Dimitri took a step to her right closer to the wall. Her hands loosened its grip on his shoulders once they caught onto the pattern of movement, but Dimitri quickly brought his hands up to her elbows to keep her hands placed on his shoulders. Neither of them said anything, but continued keeping their hands on the other’s shoulders or elbows.

Slowly but surely they were shuffling around to the point where they succeeded in them switching their initial positions. However instead of Dimitri doing the kabedon pose on her, he was still bent low to avoid hitting his head against the ceiling with his hands on her elbows. With her hands still remaining on his shoulders, they must’ve appeared as if they were… pulling each other closer in an intimate act.

“Ahem… Are you able to open the door now?” Edelgard questioned him.

“I shall certainly try. Please pardon me if I jostle you around, I’ll try to make it quick,” Dimitri said as he quickly dropped his hands from her body to instead try shuffling forward with his hands out to meet the door.

Edelgard felt her body being forcibly shuffled backwards, and felt her breath rush out of her as both her body and Dimitri’s hands made an impact against the door.

In the darkness she could practically hear his laser focus as he tried jimmying the door open, causing it to rattle against her back. She was about to lean forward to escape the rough wood grating against her back, even if it was covered by her uniform and cape, but then she felt one of Dimitri’s hands cup her back between her shoulder blades to act as a guard between her and the door. Which just so happened to have him push her body against his.

She felt a myriad of emotions well up in her that conflicted with one another. On one hand she was practically ecstatic at being so close to leaving the horrid closet, but on the other hand she didn’t want Dimitri to see his unconsciously romantic actions cause her to become extremely flustered which he’d undoubtedly see in the light. And at the same time, she also felt conflicted at enjoying the warmth shared between their bodies, as well as embarrassment at the lack of space between said bodies.

“Is… Is it working? Can you open it?” she whispered as to not startle and distract him from opening the door.

“Yes, I do bel- WOAH!”

“EEP!”

Edelgard felt her body fall back at the sudden disappearance of the door, and due to her and Dimitri basically clinging on to one another, she forcibly made him fall as well. Their bodies collided onto the floor, Edelgard on her back with her arms now entirely wrapped around Dimitri’s neck and shoulders in an effort to try and stay up, but of course Dimitri fell as well. Dimitri on the other hand was on his hands and knees above her, or well on only one of his hands since the other moved from clutching her back to clutching the back of her head so it wouldn’t once again get hit.

Her eyes were shut from the sudden fall, but when she opened them up, all she could see was a deep, sapphire blue peering into her own lilac. She could see that his eyes were filled with shock and worry.

She never quite noticed before that blue was a rather enchanting color.

“Miss Princess? Wuh chu’ dooooin’? Who’s dat?” a little girl’s voice interrupted them.

Instantly, both of their heads snapped towards the direction of the speaker, and saw the quintet of children Edelgard was playing hide and seek with. Carrie stood the closest to them, peering down at them with curiosity. Louie had his hand on the door handle that connected to the door they just fell through.

“I know what they’re doing!” interjected Ahnilee from behind Carrie. She jumped forward in clear sight of Edelgard and Dimitri. “The Princess was with the Prince! Right? And they were sharing their cooties too! Right?”

“Ewwwww, cooties are really gross,” Damian’s voice could be heard from behind the girls, as well as a gagging sound.

Ahnilee retaliated by turning around and sticking her tongue out at Damian while scrunching her face up.

“U-U-Um…,” Louie said quietly, his index fingers pushing each other back-and-forth in a shy manner, “A-Are you g-girlfriend and b-b-boyfriend?”

Spluttering at Louie’s question as well as Ahnilee’s statement about them “sharing cooties” with each other, Dimitri immediately flung himself off of her with his face a vivid red. Due to his sudden movement, Edelgard’s head fell against the floor anyways even with his previous effort to make sure she was unharmed.

Groaning, Edelgard sat up with an equally red blush covering her face. “C-Children! That is _ not _an appropriate topic to be talking about, especially at your young age. You must become at least a teenager to have conversations about… a-about d-d-dating,” she stammered at the end.

After she spoke, she heard chuckling beside her and when she looked over, she could see Dimitri in his flustered state. However he was covering the bottom half of his face with his hand as quiet snickers escaped him, most likely from what she just said. She was about to retaliate by ‘gently’ kicking his leg, but then Ricky appeared next to the girls. He had a beaming grin on his face, and the light from a nearby window causing his spectacles to glint white as if the accessory was mocking them. Luckily he changed the topic from romance to: “I founddddd you, Princeth! And Prince too, but I didn’t know that he wath altho playing with uth. I win!”

“Not fair! Louie had to show you where the princess was hiding, so that doesn’t count!” Damian argued, a cute scowl appearing one his face that made his baby cheeks pudge out more.

Before Ricky could argue back, Edelgard intercepted their conversation by saying, “Congratulations, you all found me. That was a hard-earned victory for all of you, since you worked together.”

The group of children instantly cheered up, giving her bright grins at her acknowledgement of them. She couldn’t understand why the other children wouldn’t want to spend time with these five, since for the most part they all seemed like normal, hyperactive kids.

_ Do the kids recognize Dimitri? Roderick certainly sounded like he does. Dimitri’s rather distinct looking, especially as a visitor who teaches children how to fight. _

A hand appeared in her vision, cutting off her thoughts about the children. Peering up, she saw Dimitri, now more pink faced than red, holding out a hand to her to help her stand up.

“Thank you,” she murmured to him as he helped lift her off the ground.

“C-Can we p-please go eat n-now?” Louie appeared by her side, clutching her legs once again after abandoning holding the door open. She heard a loud growl come out of his stomach, indicating how hungry he was feeling.

“Ya! Carrie feels hun’y too!”

“Are you hungry too, Princess? Mister Prince? What do you wanna eat? What do you wanna drink?”

“I hope that lunch ithn’t oatmeal again, it tatheth icky and grotthhh.”

“But I wanna play another round of hide and seek! Ricky took too long to find everyone!”

Edelgard herself felt a little peckish, so she agreed to the early lunch. “Do you all remember the treasure we had hidden in the… Lair of Food earlier this morning? We must return there for you five to receive your gifts that I mentioned before. After we’re done eating lunch, then we can play hide and seek again, or another game if you like,” she told the children to appease them, which caused all of them to cheer. Or well, four of them to cheer and one of them to be silently happy.

“Ith he coming too?” Ricky asked as he pointed at Dimitri.

Dimitri appeared shocked at the sudden question, but he shook his head at them. “I apologize, children, but one of the Sisters here requires my help which I still haven’t accomplished as of yet. I had been stalling for too long, so I must be off and complete my task,” Dimitri regretfully informed the now pouting children who looked as if they wanted him to eat with them.

Louie abandoned clinging onto her leg to instead cling onto Dimitri’s, which caused him to look down at the child.

“P-Please?... W-We promise we’ll be ex-extra good…” Louie tearfully said.

Edelgard could see Louie’s words melt any form of defense Dimitri was going to come up with to not have lunch with them. Dimitri’s eyes softened looking down at Louie, before ruffling Louie’s hair while giving him a small smile.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. That is if Edelgard would allow me to join of course, since I would be intruding on the special meal she made for you all,” Dimitri revealed while looking up at her, mirth twinkling in his eyes.

All at once, the five children looked back at her to see if she would give permission for Dimitri to join them.

_ I had planned for today’s excursion to _ not _ include Blaiddyd, but I suppose there’s no helping it. I’m surprised that none of them questioned as to why he was in the closet with me exactly, or why he’s at the orphanage at all today. _

“If you all insist on having his presence there, then of course he is welcome to join us,” she agreed, before smirking, “After all, the prince _ did _ help the princess in creating the gift for you all.”

The children gasped at the revelation, before eagerly bounding towards Dimitri and cling onto him in the same way Louie was.

“Did ya’ rully d’that for us? Thankie!” Carrie thanked Dimitri with a cheerful grin.

Ricky was hanging off of one of Dimitri’s arms, swinging back and forth as he cheered, “The Princeth and Prince made uth food! It’ll be the bethtetht food ever!” Then he dropped onto his feet and crossed his arms to say, “Ath long ath it ithn’t oatmeal!”

“What did you make? Did you cook it? Did you bake it? What do you like to eat? What’s your favorite food?” Ahnilee asked yet another round of questions in a rapid fashion.

Damian was swinging on Dimitri’s other arm, cheering at the idea of food. “I’m hungry~ You’re hungry~ We’re all hungry in our tummies~” he sang a little song, the growls coming from his stomach acting as an accompaniment.

Quietly, Louie tugged at Dimitri's free arm and led the group back downstairs without saying anything, but considering the fast pace his little legs were taking him, Edelgard figured that he was rather famished. Along the way back to the kitchen, Dimitri maneuvered Damian around so that he clung to his neck instead of freely swinging on his arm, and held hands with Louie. Ahnilee just attached here whole body to the side of Dimitri’s leg, causing him to walk almost as if he had a limp — but more accurately an uneven amount of weight on one side weighing him down. Ricky and Carrie went her way with their hands up, so Edelgard obliged and picked both of them up to carry to the kitchen too.

Once they made it to the kitchen, Dimitri briefly parted from the group to find the nun he was helping previously to inform her about what happened. The children were sad at his disappearance, but were quickly distracted at the basket of food that Edelgard brought back out from the kitchen after profusely thanking the chef for keeping watch over it. She also held another basket generously given by the chef that she was told contained various utensils, plates, and cups that they could use for the picnic.

“Now, do any of you have any special places where we can set up our picnic to eat?” Edelgard asked them as they meandered down the direction where Dimitri took off.

Damian raised his hand and shook it vigorously around to get her attention. Once she made eye contact with him, he beamed and said, “There’s a small hilltop behind the building that has tons of flowers! It’s really pretty!”

Ahnilee vocally “ooh”-ed and nodded her head in agreement at Damian’s suggestion. “Do you wanna know what we do there? It’s where Louie and Carrie like to practice their flower making! Do you wanna know what the rest of us do there? We nap!” she informed Edelgard.

Edelgard agreed to their proposition of where they should eat. “Now that we have a place to eat, let’s wait by the entrance for Dimitri to come join us.”

Soon after she uttered those words, Dimitri appeared, rather disheveled and out of breath.

“Hah… Apologies for, hah... my tardiness. I had to run back upstairs to find another broom to deliver to Sister Holly just now,” he said while recollecting himself.

“You arrived rather quickly, and we know you had a duty to finish before joining us so you could have taken your time,” Edelgard said in amusement.

Dimitri merely shook his head at her words, then patted his stomach. “I was rather famished myself, and I didn’t want to make you or the children wait on me to eat. However I was given this gift for our excursion that the Sister said would be beneficial to us,” he said while holding out a stereotypical red-and-white checkered picnic blanket.

“C’mon, we goin’ to duh pretty hill!” Carrie cheerfully changed the topic, pointing out one of the back door entrances.

Before they could exit though, Edelgard dragged the group to one of the nearby bathrooms to wash their hands before the meal. Even though they’d most likely be touching nature or unsanitary items before eating. Edelgard and Dimitri took turns lifting the children up to the sink to help them clean their hands, and then they washed their own hands. After that, the seven of them exited the orphanage.

The group ventured out to the aforementioned hill, all the while Edelgard and Dimitri bantered back and forth as to who got to carry what since she had two baskets. They remedied things by each carrying a basket while the five kids went on ahead in a race to see who got there first. Considering their personalities and their energy levels, Edelgard was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Louie who had gotten to the top of the hill first.

Once Dimitri and Edelgard caught up with the rambunctious fivesome, they got to work in laying out the blanket and setting up the food. It was a collaborated effort of setting up the dishes and splitting up the food between the seven of them, all the while the kids watched on with varied levels of patience.

“Mmmm, is the food ready yet? I’m REALLY hungry!” Damian whined, kicking his feet against the ground.

“I wanna know too! Is it ready yet? When will it be ready? What did you make? Do we get sweets too?” Ahnilee added on.

The other three children were more patient however, Carrie and Louie just plopping themselves down onto the ground to play with the flowers while Ricky stayed silent next to Ahnilee and Damian.

“Alright alright, Edelgard and I are done setting up! Please join us in this feast.”

With all seven of them being hungry, they all chowed down on the assortment of food before them. Edelgard had Louie and Carrie sitting on either side of her, while Ahnilee and Damian sat on either side of Dimitri as Ricky sat in between Carrie and Damian.

Looking over at everyone’s plates, Edelgard felt herself bust into a fit of giggles when she looked both at Dimitri and his plate of food.

“What?” Dimitri asked, with some cheese hanging down from his mouth.

Wordlessly, since she was still giggling, she pointed up at her mouth to indicate that Dimitri made a mess around his. Then she pointed over at his plate, which _ only _ contained the grilled cheese sandwiches they made earlier and none of the other food.

_ “Hey, El! How much cheese do you think I can eat?” _

_ “I don’t know, ____, but you’ll definitely get a tummy ache. And when you do, I won’t help. I’ll just say that I told you so!” _

_ “Nuh-uh. I won’t! I pinky promise!” _

_ “You can’t just use pinky promises like that, you gotta make sure you mean it!” _

The children around them looked confused at what Edelgard seemed to be laughing at, but regardless they quickly joined in on laughing, even though they didn’t know what or who they were laughing at. Their laughter quickly broke Edelgard out of her past memories, so she refocused her attention back onto the messy eater in front of her.

Through her lashes, Edelgard saw the slight frown of confusion Dimitri adopted melt into a tiny smile as he stared at her. She felt her giggles die down as heat began to rise up her neck at the feeling of him staring at her in what seemed to be… happiness.

Shortly after that debacle, all of them continued eating their food. Some of them eating at a slower pace, while others — Damian — practically inhaled their food. Then some of the children argued over what proportions the other got because of their food preferences, but because of her and Dimitri’s efforts they quickly solved any problems they might have had.

Thankfully Edelgard and Dimitri accidentally made an abundance of food earlier, because his presence definitely wasn’t accounted for before.

Edelgard spotted the plate filled entirely with sweet buns, and quietly left her unfinished meal to grab one, but she was quickly intercepted by another's hand gently gripping her wrist. Glancing at the owner of said hand, she saw Dimitri's face filled with amusement, mirth dancing in his eyes. His face told her that he had been expecting her to have some of the dessert early on, which must be the case because she told him about her preference for sweet buns that morning.

"I don't believe it's time for dessert just yet, now is it, Edelgard? We _should_ uphold proper manners and such when around such impressionable minds," he said with his head tilted towards the children watching their exchange.

Edelgard felt her lips forming a pout at his words, but she nodded her head regardless at his wise words and abandoned her efforts of eating the dessert for the time being.

Later on, once they all finished as much of the actual meal as they could, with certain children actively trying to avoid vegetables earlier, they eventually came to the dessert portion of the meal. Dimitri nudged the plate towards her while he dispersed napkins to the children. Edelgard eagerly took the opportunity to take one of the sweet buns, immediately biting into it and sighing in bliss at the sweet filling covering her taste buds. While she feasted and soon devoured completely her sweet bun, everyone else followed after her and grabbed one of the twelve bun for themselves, except for Dimitri. With her eyebrows furrowed, she gave Dimitri a questioning glance and he merely shook his head at her.

"We hadn't planned for my presence at this picnic, and looking at it now I can tell you planned to make two buns for each person here, excluding me of course. I don't mind not eating any of it, I'm happier seeing you... all enjoy it," he stumbled over the last bit, an awkward pause after he said "you".

Edelgard rolled her eyes at his chivalrous behavior, and grabbed one of the buns. Due to her experience when she was younger, she expertly split the bun into two and handed the other half to Dimitri.

"If you insist on me having two buns still, I shall compromise and allow you to have half of... half of my dessert," she decided.

_ "I'm sorry, El. The chefs only gave me three of these, since they said I'd be ruining my appetite if I ate a lot of sweets. You can have two if you want, since I can always get some back home." _

_ "It's okay! We can just split the third one, you deserve just as much. I pinky promise to share~" _

_ "Really? Thank you!" _

_ "Well duh, you brought them so you get to have some." _

At her words, they seemed to melt any arguments Dimitri had because she could visibly see him soften while looking down at the offered half of a sweet bun. In an almost timid manner, he took the sweet bun-half and gave her a serene, yet almost sad smile.

"Thank you, Edelgard."

"No need to thank me, Dimitri. Especially when you're the one that helped me make them."

—————

Soon enough, the group finished eating and were resting after their meal. Then the seven of them, primarily Edelgard and Dimitri, cleaned up after themselves after their meal. Which included throwing any trash such as used napkins in one basket, while filling the other with utensils, plates, food containers, and cups. The children had helped by folding the picnic blanket as neatly as they could, and then stacked it on top of the baskets once they were finished.

“S’what chu guys wanna play nah?” Carrie giggled as she ran around with her arms spread out.

Ahnilee jumped up and down in excitement. “Ooh, ooh, I have a game I wanna play! Do you wanna know what it is? It’s not like Damian’s game! Do you wanna know how? Because it’s more fun!”

“Nu-uh, hide and seek is WAY better!”

“Nu-uh, MY game is WAY better! Do you even know what it is? Huh? Do ya?”

“No duh! You always choose to play House, and it’s boring because you always play Mommy!”

Ahnilee pouted, before visibly brightening up and turning towards Edelgard.

_ Oh no. _

“Princess! Can you please play House with us? And play as our Mommy? Pleaseeee?” Ahnilee pleaded, her bottom lip quivering and her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

_ Acting as a mother or even a parental figure in general is a bad idea. I wouldn’t want to give the kids the hopes of me adopting them. I’m much too young for that, and I would hate to hurt them for pretending to be som- _

“I’m gonna cry if you don’t agree you know!” Ahnilee declared, sounding awfully nasally as if she’s actually been crying.

Edelgard quickly acquiesced, not wanting to see Ahnilee actually cry.

Ahnilee didn’t let up on her act, because as soon as Edelgard agreed she turned to Dimitri. “And can you please play too? Play House with us? As our pretend Daddy? Pleaseeee?”

Edelgard stiffened out of shock at the question, and glanced to the side to see Dimitri’s reaction. After all, Ahnilee just implied that they would have to act as cohesive parental units for however long the children wanted to play. She could see that Ahnilee’s expression had succeeded in affecting Dimitri, because he too quickly relented under her pleas to act as the father figure in the pretend family game.

_ Curse the effects of the puppy-dog eyes. These children are well versed in it _.

“If we’re gonna play Houthe, then the Princeth and Prince are gonna have to marry like Louie and Ahnilee did! That meanth that they get to become queen and king, and we get to be the next princetheth and princeth!” Ricky proclaimed nearby.

Edelgard and Dimitri looked at one another, but then immediately snapped their heads the other way once they made eye contact.

“What do you mean by marry?” Edelgard heard Dimitri ask the children.

“Duh, it means it lets you be a mommy and daddy! Otherwise you can’t play as them, which would be really weird since you two are the oldest here,” Damian said, as if he was explaining something extremely simplistic to Dimitri. From what Edelgard remembered, out of the three kids that told her their ages, it was Ahnilee who said she was six years old and three quarters making her one of if not the oldest. But she didn’t remember Louie ever announcing how old he was. Maybe they determined who the ‘parents’ of the game were by age order.

Carrie skipped over to them and then began teetering back and forth on her heels. “I ha’ a present for ya’ for duh wedding! Carrie be right back!” she giggled as she ran off back to the orphanage.

Edelgard began to follow after her to make sure that she was okay, but was quickly blocked by Louie tugging on her uniform.

“Ahem, yes, what is it?” she questioned him as she kept glancing back towards the orphanage to watch Carrie from a distance. Soon enough Carrie disappeared from her sight when she went back into the building.

“T-Time to get ready f-for the we-wedding…” he whispered to her, before pointing over at where Ahnilee, Ricky, and Damian were all conversing with Dimitri who appeared rather ruffled from whatever antics the kids were up to.

Edelgard sighed aloud, but grabbed Louie’s hand and walked over to the group, silently reassigned to this pre-pretend House game that they were setting up her and Dimitri to do.

“- yeah? Do you even know _ how _ to be the offishy… officia… official… officiate? Huh? Do ya? Cuz I do!” Ahnilee’s voice echoed.

“I did it last time for you and Louie, so I DO know how to do it! So lemme do it!” Damian argued back at her. The two of them seemed to be bickering about who got to be the officiant that… would wed her and Dimitri. All in good, pretend fun, of course.

Dimitri had one of his hands up to his chin, seemingly lost in thought as he listened to the two kids argue. Beside him, Ricky was watching him and quickly copying and movement or pose that Dimitri was doing.

“Since Damian does have experience officiating a wedding, I do believe that he is more qualified to be the one that controls the vows and such. In return, why don’t you be the flower girl?” Dimitri tried appeasing the two of them, even though Edelgard could tell he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of the fake wedding.

Or maybe he was just uncomfortable with the idea of marrying her, or just her in general.

She could feel a weight in her stomach dropping at that thought, so she distracted herself by intruding into their conversation.

“So, how would you all like to do this? Carrie isn’t back yet, but I do agree with Ahnilee being the flower girl if Carrie is alright with it.”

“Pfft, Carrie can be your maid of honor, duh!” Damian said in exasperation, then pointed at Ricky and Louie. “Then these two can be Dimitri’s best man or be the bear ring carrier!”

Louie shook his head beside her, a pout making an appearance. “N-No! I w-w-wanna be the princess’ m-maid,” he demanded as he continued clinging onto Edelgard.

Edelgard felt her heart warm at his words, but she felt the arguments were unfair when Carrie wasn’t there to say what she wanted to be. “Please wait until Carrie comes back so we can see what she wants. Hopefully we can all agree on whatever position you all want the most.”

After awhile, Carrie finally returned with a small bundle of cloth in her hands. “I got it! Carrie’s secret!” she declared as she skipped towards the group. At her words, the other children crowded around her out of curiosity, all of them questioning what was in the cloth or making guesses as to what it contained.

Carrie carefully unwrapped the bundle, revealing a pair of silver rings inside. One was obviously meant for a male with a stereotypical simple, but large band with few gemstones, while the one meant for a female was much smaller with a more delicate band that carried a lot of gemstones. All the children ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the sight of the jewelry, some of them even making commentary such as, “That’s really shiny and pretty!”

Edelgard stepped to the group of children, carefully placing a hand on Carrie’s shoulder as to not surprise her. “Carrie, do you mind me asking where you got those rings?” she asked, not even being able to begin to imagine as to the reason why or how Carrie had such expensive looking jewelry.

“Oh! Carrie got it from duh trash in’der town. It was really shy-ey and purdy, so Carrie took it!” Carrie told her tale in glee.

Internally Edelgard sweatdropped at her response, but seeing as Carrie didn’t know the true origins of the rings which she said were tossed away, then Edelgard supposed that she would be okay using those rings as props.

“You have washed them, correct? We wouldn’t want anybody here getting sick from holding the jewelry here,” Dimitri asked as well, hovering around the group of children too.

Carrie nodded her head, “Yuh! Duh place they came fram was purdy icky, so Carrie cleaned it.”

“Are you sure you want to use these rings? We can easily use some of the flowers around us to make wedding rings instead, seeing as these rings could be very valuable,” Edelgard tried persuading Carrie to keeping the rings for another purpose. However she failed when Carrie grumpily shook her head and thrusted the clothed bundle of rings to her.

“Nu! I wanna use dese! Carrie knows dat der bettah. Wuwie and Ahn gotta have real rings, so do you!”

Edelgard took the bundle and said, “... Alright, but we won’t be keeping the rin-“

Carrie stomped her feet, interrupting what Edelgard was saying. “NU! Gift! Carrie tuh yu!” she whined, her little hands curled into fists as she continued stomping.

Edelgard watched Dimitri reach a hand over, clasping a large hand over Carrie’s hand that stopped her mini tantrum. It was an adorable sight of Carrie’s entire hand being enveloped by Dimitri’s, indicating her small size. “Thank you for your generous gift, but the princess and I would feel much better if you kept these rings for yourself. After all you could use them in the future for whatever endeavor you may be up to, whether it be marriage yourself or in dire need of some currency.”

She could see that most of what Dimitri just said flew over Carrie’s head, because she still continued to pout and shake her head at the duo. Meanwhile the other four children had backed away to watch the entire debacle go down, none of them interrupting, but Edelgard could hear them whispering even though she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying exactly. She could only hear their voices, not their words.

Carrie, and then Edelgard and Dimitri continued bartering back and forth about the rings, but due to Carrie’s stubbornness — read: mainly Carrie starting to shed a few tears — the duo quickly acquiesced to what she desired to use the rings. And apparently keep them once they got “married” because that’s what married couples do: continue wearing their rings.

Time passed by quickly as the group quickly assigned everyone a role and then set up a meager looking wedding area, but considering the artificial aspect of it, it would suffice. Dimitri stood directly on top of the hill with Ricky close by his side as his ‘best man’, while Damian stood a few feet away from them to act as the officiant. Down at the bottom of the hill stood Edelgard with Ahnilee as the flower girl, Carrie as the ring bearer, and Louie as her maid of honor, or possibly butler of honor.

Ahnilee began the wedding herself by humming quite loudly the standard tune of the wedding march. All the while she was tossing a bunch of flowers, that they picked moments earlier, to the ground leading the way to the top of the hill. Edelgard following after her awkwardly, a random assortment of flowers in her hands acting as a bouquet as Louie and Carrie followed behind her. Once she got to the top of the hill, Edelgard saw that Ahnilee stood to the side of the ‘bridal area’, leaving a giant space between her and Damian that was undoubtedly Edelgard’s spot.

Quietly Edelgard went to the empty space and stood there, Louie following after her like a little shadow as Carrie stayed behind, acting both as the ring bearer and a pseudo audience. She watched Ahnilee went over to Carrie to join her in the audience, smiling at the excited grins the two little girls shared.

“Here ye’! Here ye’! The princess and prince are gonna marry! Does anybody here not want them to marry?” Damian asked as he began the ceremony.

Edelgard internally giggled at his diction and in general the rushed way he began the fake wedding, feeling more at ease hearing a childish interpretation of such a serious event. Looking across from her, she spotted Dimitri softly smiling at Damian in encouragement too. She could see that he had a mirthful look on his face.

“Both of you repeat after me at once, so this goes by fastly, okay?” Damian asked, but continued on without actually getting either Edelgard or Dimitri’s agreement.

“You two, princess and prince!”

Edelgard felt confused, but then she heard Dimitri say, “I, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd…” and so she quickly followed suit. She copied him by saying, “I, Edelgard von Hresvelg…”

“Will evolve you into a queen and king!”

An awkward silence passed as the two royalty tried interpreting exactly what Damian was saying, but Edelgard was the one who caught on first in that instance.

“Will take thee, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd to be my king...”

She saw Dimitri’s face turn a pink hue when she uttered his name, but he mimicked what she said by saying, “Will take thee, Edelgard von Hresvelg to be my queen...”

“To hug!” Damian said with his arms thrown wide open as if he was asking for a hug himself.

A quiet giggle escaped her at what Damian said, and she could hear a chuckle come from Dimitri’s direction as well. However the both of them quickly recited what Damian told them to repeat.

“... to have and to hold...,” the teenagers said in unison, both of them aware of the actual formal version of the vows.

“Forever and ever, no matter what!”

The not-actual-couple replied, “... from this day forward, for better or worse…”

“When you’re sick, I’ll help!”

“... in sickness and in health…” the duo continued interpreting.

“You pinky promise!”

“... I pinky promise,” the duo finished, but the instant Edelgard uttered those words, a memory flashed in her mind.

_ “Do you think you’ll ever be put into an arranged marriage?” _

_ “Of course not, I wouldn’t let that happen to me.” _

_ “Can you pinky promise that?” _

_ “Huh? What for?” _

_ “Because I… don’t want to be alone in not getting married.” _

_ “Don’t make me a future loner like you’ll be, weirdo!” _

_ “I mean… We wouldn’t be alone, we would have each other.” _

_ “Oh, you’re right… Then yeah, I guess I can pinky promise that. If we ever get stuck with someone we don’t like, or if we’re alone in the future, we’ll always have each other.” _

_ “I pinky promise!” _

_ “Me too.” _

_ “Ugh, you actually have to say it, you know.” _

_ “Fine fine, I pinky promise.” _

“Okay, time for the rings!” Damian requested.

Carrie handed her the bigger ring, which at a quick glance looked well taken care of. Then she focused back onto the task on hand, and gestured for Dimitri to lift up his left hand. When he followed her nonverbal instruction, she grabbed ahold of his hand and quickly placed the ring on his ring finger. She refused to make eye contact, even as she felt his piercing gaze stare her down as she struggled to push the ring all the way down to the end of his finger.

Once she accomplished that, she saw Carrie go closer to Dimitri to hand him the ring that was for her.

She heard Dimitri quietly murmur his thanks to Carrie, before turning back to her with ring in hand, but with a quick glance up she could see that he was heavily analyzing the ring.

Silently, Edelgard held her hand up in what even she could admit was in a demure fashion. She only ever played House as a child, so playing the game once again at her age where she could be married off at any moment made her feel small. It didn’t help that she was playing the pretend-marriage game with someone she didn’t quite know how she felt towards, because it was certainly a myriad of emotions.

Dimitri gently grabbed ahold of her hand, bringing it closer to him as he brought his other hand closer to their joined ones. The delicate piece of metal was placed on her finger and pushed back until it reached her knuckle, being an almost perfect fit on her finger. However, almost was the key word because the ring felt rather snug on her hand.

Edelgard brought her left hand up, analyzing the jewelry adorning her ring finger. The ring appeared to be made of silver, or possibly white gold, with various sapphire gems and diamonds centered in the middle in a style reminiscent of a flower. She was surprised that the children had somehow been in possession of a pair of well-kept rings that showed no signs of corrosion or missing pieces. Glancing over at Dimitri’s hand, she saw his ring glinting in the sunlight. A rather fetching look on him, considering the color scheme of silver and blue of the rings.

_ I wonder about the true origins of these matching rings… they appear to be well crafted. _

“Now you gotta kiss the bride!” Damian announced, officially saying the usual ending to the formal part of a wedding that indicated the engaged couple had successfully been married. There was a grin on his face that matched the ones on all of the other children’s.

Edelgard felt herself internally grimace at the command, mostly because she… she never had been kissed before. And she certainly didn’t want her first kiss to happen like this, childish as the wish may be. She wanted it to be with someone she truly loved and _ would _be getting married to, not… not whoever Dimitri is to her because she doesn’t know herself. She knew that at a basic level that they were rivals, and at a deeper level they will one day be enemies standing at opposite sides of the battlefield. But at that very moment? She wouldn’t be able to describe what exactly they were at the deepest level.

Edelgard resigned herself to the ordeal, and turned fully to face Dimitri who seemed to be troubled.

“What are you waiting for? Just hurry up and kiss me,” Edelgard seethed out quietly, so the kids wouldn’t hear.

“I’m trying to figure out the best approach.” Dimitri mutters, his lips tugging down ever so slightly.

“Pardon me?”

“... I had assumed that one simply leans in, but I didn’t consider the height difference between us—“

Edelgard scowled at what Dimitri was saying, and in retaliation she got up on her tiptoes and forcibly pressed her lips against Dimitri’s in a chaste kiss.

She felt a horrible blush pop up on her face, covering her neck as well, at the embarrassment of her first kiss being like this. Being witnessed and conducted by adolescent children. Being taken away by her rival. Being so fake. But it could’ve been worse. In fact, the kiss felt rather pleasant to her, if not slightly boring. However she couldn’t see the attraction that so many people her age had with kissing someone else.

After a few tense moments, Edelgard backed away, a frown marring her features at the lack of reaction she got from Dimitri.

“Well?”

However, she soon wished that she kept her mouth shut because of what Dimitri said next.

“... No. That’s not how one kisses at a wedding. It has to be more… loving,” Dimitri tried correcting her.

She was about to scoff in his face and tell him bluntly that he wasn’t a good kisser either since he didn’t seem to appreciate her efforts, but she was quickly silenced by:

“You do it like this.”

When Dimitri uttered those words, a gentle hand cupped her cheek and brought her lips to his.

Her eyes bugged out, staring in shock at Dimitri’s face, but his eyes were closed as he softly pressed his lips to hers, moving them ever so slightly in an intimate manner as if he was actively kissing her rather than a mere simple peck. The warmth from his lips covered hers, teasing her to kiss him as tenderly as he was kissing her at that moment.

Even though she stood frozen, Dimitri’s lips gently moved against her own, leaving heat in its wake when he removed his lips from hers to press a chaste kiss to the corner of her mouth. She could see him turning a pale pink, and she knows that her own face must’ve looked a deeper rose. Moments later, he returned to catch her lips again in an almost feeble manner, as if he was afraid that she was going to push him away at this next kiss.

Slowly Edelgard felt her eyes become half-lidded at the feeling of the surprising softness of his mouth. Then eventually her eyes came to a complete close as she indulged herself in the kiss, pressing back up against Dimitri and lifting her hands to rest on his shoulders. She felt Dimitri bring his other hand to clutch onto her hip, pressing her ever so slightly closer as if he couldn’t get enough of her touch. As if he couldn’t bear to have any part of him away from her.

The longer they kissed, the more Edelgard felt enraptured by Dimitri, as if the world around her didn’t exist and Dimitri’s lips were all that mattered. She moved her arms to completely wrap around Dimitri’s head to push the two of them closer together. She felt lightheaded, as if her head was in the clouds and her body was flying. Now she understood the fascination that so many students had with kissing, because she felt as if she could get addicted to the feeling Dimitri was giving her.

Unfortunately, soon enough the both of them ran out of air and they parted, both panting quite heavily to take in oxygen. She felt Dimitri rest his forehead against hers, staring intensely into her eyes while she still had her arms wrapped around him. She knew that she was staring into his eyes in the same manner, because she couldn’t believe her eyes that this was real. That way they just did was real. That… that she enjoyed kissing _ her enemy _ a second time. Maybe even third? She lost count.

Her eyes flickered down to his mouth that was still panting quietly, causing her to internally debate the risk of kissing him again. The very thought made her lick her out of nervousness, and instantly Dimitri’s eyes snapped down to watch her own mouth. He watched her as if he was thinking the same thing. However, someone made that decision for them.

“YAAYYY! Now you’re married!” Carrie’s voice cheered, breaking the moment they had.

Flustered, the two of them immediately backed away from each other, but Edelgard felt Dimitri refuse to move his hand away from her, instead moving his hand from her hip across her waist to her other hip. So she could still feel his body heat close by along with the arm encircling her waist leaving her body feeling heated.

“Did you guys get cooties? Did Dimitri get it cuz he’s a boy? Did Edelgard get it cuz she kissed him first? Did they get it cuz they smooched for a long time?” Ahnilee asked in curiosity.

Edelgard saw Damian wiggle his nose and made a disgusted face, “No, that’s gross! Now that they’re married they _ can’t _ get cooties like they did before in the closet!”

Instantly Edelgard felt herself blush once again at the reminder of what occurred between the two of them in the closet, even though it wasn’t nearly as scandalous and… lovely as what they had just done.

“Now you two can act ath our Mommy and Daddy when we play Houthe! I call being the big brother!” Ricky called dibs on his position, unaware that his sentence lowkey broke Edelgard’s mind.

_ M-Mommy!? D-Daddy!? Oh no, I don’t think I can do that… That’s too much for me right now, I can’t be around Dimitri acting as… as parents. I don’t think that… my heart could take it right now. I _ can’t _ fall for him. _ Edelgard frowned as a sudden thought reappeared in here mind from earlier that day. _ Especially… Especially since I will most likely have to marry out of political necessity and not any sort of infatuation or love. Even for political reasons, Dimitri would never be available to marry. _

“Alright, lead the way to where you all want to play House then,” Dimitri encouraged beside her. She didn’t even notice that he had stepped even closer, to the point their hips knocked against each other, after them initially backing away from each other once they registered that they had an audience to their kiss… es.

The fivesome led the way back to the orphanage. The entire walk down, Dimitri hadn’t loosened his grip around her waist, being a constant presence alongside her. Neither of them said anything, but Edelgard felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest at the act of intimacy. Once they arrived at the orphanage with the container-utensil-plate-cup filled baskets and blanket in tow, they went inside. The children then showed them to a large, empty room that contained only tables, couches, and chairs.

“‘Dis is duh rainy play place!” Carrie informed them.

“Carrie meanth that thith ith where the nunth take uth to play whenever it’th rainy,” Ricky clarified while pushing up his glasses.

The five children ran in and out of the room, acquiring various pieces of ‘props’ they could use to play House, such as pillows, blankets, teacups, plates, books, and more. After the children finished acquiring all the necessary items for them to play House, a couple of the tables were creaking from the vast amount of weight they were holding up of the numerous amounts of props. The entire time, neither Edelgard or Dimitri budged from their position, Edelgard frozen by the heat coming off of Dimitri that surrounded her while Dimitri… was doing whatever while she was distracted. She didn’t know exactly why he hadn’t let go of her or move away from her once they entered the building.

“Mama! Come play wif muh dolls wif me!” Carrie cried out, twirling around in front of Edelgard.

Edelgard blinked blankly in response, still not feeling entirely there, but she felt body push itself into motion to walk towards where Carrie had set up a table filled with dolls. She expected the almost blistering heat around her to disappear, but instead it continued to attach itself to her, following after the two girls.

Once Edelgard and Dimitri arrived at the table, Ahnilee greeted them with a large smile.

“Yay, tea party time! What tea do you like? What do you wanna snack on? What color cup do you wanna use?” Ahnilee yelled as she swung around a plush doll to sit beside her.

Edelgard looked around, seeing a few empty seats by Ahnilee, so she took a seat and crossed her legs, immediately feeling the warmth around her hip disappear. She heard on her right that Dimitri took a seat beside her, but she didn’t think anything of it because he removed his hand from her. But then he moved his left hand to grip her knee, squeezing it slightly and not letting go.

She felt like her head was about to implode at the sudden rush of heat that expanded inside of her body. Edelgard didn’t know how to process what was going on, or even what happened previously. All she could feel was her going through the motions of playing around, her mind focused entirely on the large hand covering her thigh.

“Mommy! Daddy! You have to change the baby’th diaper, it smellth grotthhh,” Ricky complained while pointing at Carrie.

Edelgard couldn’t even get herself to question if Ricky was being literal about changing Carrie’s diaper if it even existed, but Dimitri asked him himself.

“Pardon me? Did Carrie have an accident?” she heard Dimitri’s concern in his tone.

“Uhhhhhhhhhh. Not really, but Carrie’th the baby for Houthe today!” Ricky clarified. Once he finished his sentence, Carrie plopped herself onto the ground, and started to roll around pretending to cry while curled into a ball.

Edelgard felt Dimitri give her leg another squeeze, as if he was giving her a silent message. Then she watched him get up, leaving her feeling awfully cold without his hand, heading to Carrie. He carefully picked her up, bouncing her up and down in his arms in a calming motion that worked quickly because Carrie began giggling.

At the sound of Carrie’s light laughter, Dimitri adopted a smile on his face while looking happily down at the little girl in his arms.

“May one of you please direct me to the changing station where I may change… Princess Carrie?” Dimitri chuckled along with Carrie, who was still giggling.

Ahnilee and Damian blankly stared at each other, before pointing at opposite random directions. Meanwhile Louie came towards Edelgard and lifted his arms up in the universal ‘pick-me-up’ gesture, so she picked him up and set her on her lap. Ricky on the other hand, heard what Dimitri called Carrie and gasped loudly.

“Did we go from being knightthh to princetheth and princeth?”

Dimitri gave Ricky a grin, before looking over at Edelgard. She could see the warmth he held in his gaze even from where she sat, causing her to shift in her seat not knowing how to deal with what she saw in his eyes.

“Well you can be both, Ricky. You can uphold the righteous virtues and courageous actions of a knight, as well as help be a leader and symbol for your people. Since Edelgard and I are your parents for today, that also makes us queen and king for just today, while it makes you all princesses and princes,” Dimitri explained while breaking his gaze away from her to address Ricky.

The children all around erupted into cheers, even Louie, when they heard Dimitri’s words. After their cheering, Dimitri took Carrie to an empty table and sat her down on it. Even by looking from behind, Edelgard could tell that Dimitri’s body language indicated that he didn’t know what to do next, or that he was thinking about what to do next — since he stood still with his arms crossed, but one hand lifted to his chin.

Without Dimitri being at her side, Edelgard felt herself slowly relaxing and being able to control her thoughts once again.

_ What did I get myself into today? I can’t even begin to comprehend whatever is going on between Dimitri and I… and I’ll just end up disappointing the children since my entire day was focused on them. But now I am unable to eve- _

“Moommm, can you please make me a sandwich?” Damian’s whine cut off her thoughts before she could get too deep into them.

When he spoke those words, Edelgard jumped slightly out of shock, accidentally jostling Louie around in her lap, but he didn’t appear perturbed at the motion.

“A-Ah. Yes, of course. Was the lunch previously not enough for you?” Edelgard wondered aloud as she observed the table set before her for the necessary ingredients for a sandwich. Said ingredients all happened to be missing, the only items on the table were wooden cups, plates, utensils, and a teapot with nothing else in sight. Confused at what was before her, Edelgard looked over at Damian who was looking back at her just as confused.

“Yeah, it was great! But I mean a pretend-House sandwich, duh!” Damian told her, which made a lot more sense.

“My apologies, I shall get right on that… Prince Damian,” Edelgard indulged him by playing along, grabbing one of the empty plates and a butter knife to start doing the motions of making a sandwich without the actual food in front of her.

“Hey, no fair, Mama! I want a sandwich too!” Ahnilee grumpily pouted to her left after Edelgard set the ‘empty’ plate in front of Damian.

Damian stuck his tongue out at Ahnilee as he mocked her by saying, “Hahaha! Mom likes me more!” Then he proceeded to… lift his hand up to his face and take a big bite out of the air…?

To stop anymore arguments, Edelgard intervened but telling them, “How about… your mother makes you all some more sandwiches, okay?” At her words, Louie nodded his head silently, while Ricky and Ahnilee yelled out their agreement to her offer. Then she proceeded to pretend to make some more motions, grabbing a couple more empty plates to place the ‘sandwiches’ on top of, before handing them to the other three kids.

“Mama, can you please make a sandwich for my friends too?” Ahnilee asked, pointing at the assortment of plushies and dolls on the other seats around the table.

“Gladly,” Edelgard agreed while smiling over Ahnilee’s cute question, and then proceeded to make more ‘sandwiches’, placing them on top of the empty plates in front of the plushies and dolls.

Ahnilee gasped next to her, and then turned to her with sparkling eyes. “Do you wanna know what my friends said? Do ya’? Dr.Floof and Pat the Cat really like the sandwiches! Thank you~”

“Mhmm, Mommy thith tathteth really good!” Ricky complimented while his cheeks bulged from air to mimic his cheeks being stuffed with food.

“What tastes good?” she heard Dimitri’s voice join them once again as he returned with Carrie in his arms. Even though there were other empty chairs at the other side of the table, he placed Carrie on his lap since that was most likely the easiest action with the little girl clinging to him.

“Mama’s sandwiches! Did you want one, Papa? Do you like sandwiches? Do you wanna eat a lot? Do you wanna eat with us?” Ahnilee explained before diving into interrogating Dimitri about sandwiches.

Dimitri merely chuckled at her antics, and shook his head in amusement. “I do like sandwiches, especially the cheesy kind. Your mother could tell you that,” he said while jerking his head in Edelgard’s direction. “I am still quite full from earlier, but I will gladly join you so I can spend time with you all.”

Edelgard felt herself look away when he referred to her as a mother, butterflies fluttering in her stomach making her feel lightheaded. She didn’t understand why she felt even an ounce of happiness at what he said. As if they were actually parents and not merely pretending for the sake of the orphans since they… or well _ she _ at least cannot have children.

To her surprise, however, her ignoring him slightly did little to deter him from placing his hand on her again. But this time he was leaning back into his chair and placing his hand on her lower back since she was scooted forward on her chair to the table. Heat once again blossomed inside of her, originating from the hot hand on her body. The feeling of his hand distracted her once again from what was going on, leaving her in a dazed state for however long Dimitri’s touch was on her.

—————

The rest of the day passed by in a blur, the only consistent feelings that Edelgard registered were the butterflies in her stomach, the warmth of Dimitri’s hand constantly on her or his arm around her, the cheerfulness of the children playing games with them, and the burning desire on her lips that had lingered ever since Dimitri kissed her.

_ What’s happening to me? _

—————

_ "Hey, want to make a pinky promise?” _

_ “For what?” _

_ “To never forget each other!” _  
  
_ “Hah! I already know that I’ll never forget you, after all you’re my best friend.”_

_ “You never know... We gotta make this promise to make sure it happens!” _

_ “Alright, fine. If it’ll make you feel better.” _

_ “Thank you! I’ll go first. El, I pinky promise to never forget you.” _

_ “And I pinky promise to never forget you either, D-” _

Edelgard wearily opened her eyes, still feeling exhausted from the events of the day before. She sat up yawning, then tried to rub away the sleepiness from her eyes when she felt a pressure around her ring finger. On her left hand. That suspiciously felt like a ring.

Edelgard immediately woke up, all traces of sleep disappearing as she analyzed the ring on her finger.

_ I had forgotten to take this off yesterday… It truly is a nice looking ring, even if it’s origins are unknown, but I can’t keep it let alone wear it. _

She sighed and tried to tug the ring off, but it wouldn’t budge. Her eyebrows furrowed as she exerted more pressure on the ring to try and pull it off, but didn’t draw any success. Then she tried twisting it every which way to get it off, and she still didn’t succeed.

Before she knew it, a half an hour passed by and it was time for her to go to class. Indicated by the dutiful daily knocking of her retainer and childhood friend — Hubert von Vestra.

“Lady Edelgard, it would be impudent of us if we were to show up late for Professor Manuela’s morning lecture. Please do awake and come to the mess hall so that we may eat breakfast, as it is the most important meal of the day,” Hubert’s voice announced through her closed door.

Biting her lip down while still fiddling the ring, Edelgard sighed and gave up trying to get it off at the moment. She had other things to focus on and her gloves would be able to hide the existence of said ring for a couple of hours.

At least she hoped.

—————

Throughout the entirety of the day, Edelgard had to be careful of keeping her left hand out of view of her peers. Both her and Dimitri may wear gloves, however hers were more suited for everyday wear than combat and thus has a thinner material — meaning that if something bothered to even look at her hand they’d see something big stick around her ring finger. She didn’t need that type of attention, and she could only hope that Dimitri was able to get his off before their day began.

As the school day came closer and closer to the end, Edelgard decided to sneak away from the last class of the day by feigning that she needed to return to her room for some “monthly lady assistance” that she forgot to bring to class with her. Thankfully Manuela had believed her and sent her on her way. Even Hubert would leave her alone in that case instead of assisting her — at least after learning his lesson when he tried to insisting on helping the first time several years ago.

In order to avoid anybody wandering through the halls, she snuck away to the empty courtyard and semi-hid behind a pillar to take off her gloves and the ring.

_ Goodness gracious, I should’ve never allowed Dimitri to place this infuriating piece of jewelry on my finger. Now I can’t get it off! _ Edelgard thought to herself as she was struggling to get the ring off in the courtyard when she was finally alone.

The more time passed, the more Edelgard grumbled to herself about the unfairness of her situation. A situation where she was stuck attached to some metal that would only indict her of a serious crime, if anybody found out the matching pair attached to Dimitri, a.k.a. fraternizing with the enemy.

_ Hubert and the other Black Eagles would never let me live this down if they found out. They’ll never stop talking about _ Dimitri _ if they find out. _

Thinking of her classmates, Edelgard’s struggle to get the jewelry off increased. She was so focused on her efforts that she didn’t notice someone coming up behind her.

“El? Are you okay?”

She heard a soft spoken voice ask from behind, causing her to immediately turn around and hide her hands behind her back. That was before she registered exactly whose voice it was that spoke, and who it was that was standing before her — Dimitri, the boy that was stuck in her thoughts all day thanks to that dreadful ring.

She didn’t even notice immediately that he used her old nickname “El” because of the surprise of not being alone, but when her mind acknowledged what he said she felt her heart beat a tad faster.

_ No one has called me that in forever… But I’ve never given him permission to before. I should tell him to not call me that immediately… At least… at least in front of the others… _ Edelgard internally debated with herself as the nostalgic memories that were attached to her nickname filled her with brief happiness.

Deciding to not comment on Dimitri’s sudden familiarity with her, even given their… bonding from the day before, she responded to him. “I’m fine but… it seems that I’m unable to get the ring off from yesterday. I presume you were successful in your endeavor?”

Dimitri’s eyebrows rose when she told him she was trying to take off the ring, almost as if he was shocked and disappointed that she was trying to. But then he just shook his head.

“No, I haven’t tried yet. I had woken up too late and needed to get to class otherwise Professor Hanneman might’ve sent me to clear the weeds again. It would be of no trouble of course, if I wasn’t paired up with the other Blue Lions who… have come to recently tease me whenever I’m assigned the task… Especially Dedue,” Dimitri sighed and shook his head as he undoubtedly remembered what his housemates said to him.

Edelgard just huffed and brought her left hand out from behind her back to show to Dimitri. The skin around the ring on her left finger looked irritated with a slight swelling around the ring and a red tinge to the skin due to how much she fiddled with the ring.

“Well at least you’re able to properly hide your ring underneath your winter gloves and gauntlets. My gloves just seem to… emphasize that I’m wearing something underneath them and I can’t exactly hide that it’s a ring,” Edelgard said, frowning.

Staying silent, Dimitri stepped forward slowly giving Edelgard time to back away. However she remained in place looking up at his face, her expression pinching together in confusion as he continued stepping closer and closer to her.

He gently grabbed her hand, bringing the hand closer to his face to examine it. Dimitri maneuvered her hand around to analyze the ring from different angles, before he reached up with his other hand and gently placed it on top of her hand, sandwiching her left hand between both of his.

“May I try taking this off for you? I mean no offense to your strength, especially since you’ve more than proven yourself capable by wielding an axe, but with my crest I do seem to have a… lot of strength that may prove helpful,” Dimitri stated as he peered into her eyes.

Their close proximity with no one around made Edelgard feel lightheaded as blood rushed up her body, and she immediately turned her head away to hide the flush creeping up her neck.

“Do what you will, but good luck getting it off. I’ve been trying for what seems like hours already,” she gave permission.

With that, Dimitri carefully tried pulling the ring off without pulling her finger off with it, which she could feel with the amount of force he was exerting to ensure no harm came to her hand.

When that didn’t work, he tried the same method of twisting off the ring, which didn’t work either. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at her hand, making the flush from before return with full force from the amount of determination he was exuding. It was different than the normal serious expression he adorned everyday. Different from the eager look he had when around his friends. The newfound expression made him look… rather handsome. More than the boyish prince he looked like everyday.

“My apologies, Edelgard, I can’t seem to be able to remove this from your finger. A moment, please, maybe it’ll be easier if I use the friction from my fingers than my gloves,” Dimitri muttered aloud.

Edelgard waited patiently as she watched Dimitri remove his gauntlets and then his gloves, placing them carefully on the ground before taking her hand once again. Edelgard felt heat rise to her cheeks as she felt the bare skin of Dimitri’s hand against her own. She didn’t know what to make of it exactly, but… the accidental intimacy felt rather… nice.

It felt even nicer than it did yesterday.

Glancing down at their hands, Edelgard felt herself become even more heated when she saw that Dimitri had a ring on his finger as well. The same ring that was a part of a matching pair that they received just the other day — together. The one he said he didn’t even bother trying to take off.

_ I’m surprised he hadn’t taken his off yet. I know he said that he was too busy to by waking up late, but I figured that he would’ve immediately, especially knowing his strength it would’ve been easy for him... _

The two of them were too busy staring down at their joined hands, as Dimitri futilely tried twisting or pulling the ring off of Edelgard’s finger without injuring her, that they didn’t notice an incomer.

“Hey, Your Highnesses! Professor Byleth said that your professors need you two and your Houses to come over and… Uhh… Woah. I guess a… c-congrats is in order?” A highly familiar Golden Deer voice said as it came up behind the duo.

Edelgard and Dimitri froze in their tracks, his left hand encasing hers as his other hand was trying to get the ring off of her finger. But from literally anybody else’s perspective it looked like Dimitri was placing the ring onto her finger.

“Claude! Wh-What are you doing here!?” Edelgard squeaked out, trying to take her hand away from Dimitri’s, but due to Dimitri’s strength and grip they were stuck in the position of her hand in his. Giving up on getting her hand free, she threw up her other hand to try and cover their hands. She was too busy trying to cover up their hands that she didn’t look around her immediate surroundings.

Dimitri squawked out in shock at the same time Edelgard yelled at Claude, but he didn’t focus on Claude. Unlike Edelgard, he instantly saw the rest of their classmates following Claude and his face paled as literally everyone else adopted a confused, excited, or teasing expression on their faces when they observed the duo.

Classes had ended apparently, and they were all looking for them.

Loud voices filled the courtyard, trying to be heard over the other.

“AH-HAH! I KNEW IT! I knew… that… you guys were… Wait wait wait. Wait. Dimitri are you _ proposing _ to Edelgard!?” Caspar yelled out, pointing dramatically at the pair.

“... L-Lady Edelgard? What is the meaning of this? Is this heathen trying to ensnare you with some witchcraft?” Hubert demanded, his voice a tad louder than the others due to him menacingly stepping towards the couple. “Rest assured, I will proceed with wiping the world of this nuisance.”

Dedue intercepted Hubert by standing in front of him, crossing his arms. “If it is His Highness’ desire to wed your lady, and she accepts, then it is our duty as their retainers to agree to their whims for their happiness and watch over both of their livelihoods. Attacking their beloved won’t protect their safety,” he lectured Hubert who was glowering up at Dedue.

“Beat it you two, I don’t want to hear your voices over those two! We gotta get the tea on what’s going down!” Hilda exclaimed as she hip-checked Hubert and Dedue to the side, making way for her to get to the front of the group next to Claude.

“Oh my, is this why you asked about what types of sweets I liked, Your Highness? So that you could get some sugar candies from the nearby town for Edelgard?” Ashe asked in excitement, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

Mercedes smiled serenely at the scene in front of her, as well as Ashe’s comment, “Now Your Highness, you know that you may always come to me or Dedue if you’d like help with baking or cooking something for Edelgard! I’ll always be glad to help, especially if you need me to help with making the food for the wedding.”

Dedue nodded his head in agreement with what Mercedes said. “Agreed, Your Highness. If there’s anything that you require in preparation for the wedding then you merely need to ask. I will come up with a possible menu that you’d like, but of course I would need both of your inputs on it so I may begin practicing making the food.”

“I am not understanding what is to be happening right now. May someone please explain what it is that they are to be doing?” inquired Petra alongside everyone else.

Dorothea hooked her arm around Petra’s elbow to link their arms together and began to gush, “Prince Dimitri is proposing to Edie! It means he wants to marry her and have a family and rule over Fódlan together! They’ll be the _ definition _of a power couple!”

“Ah, this is of much excitement then! May you and Dimitri experience the stars bless your relationship so that many suns and moons pass by of joyous times!” Petra happily gave a brief Brigid wedding blessing to Edelgard.

She didn’t know how to react at everyone’s reactions to their supposed “proposal”. Dimitri too stood shocked and silent at everyone.

Ferdinand shook his head next to Hubert, frowning as he hated to verbally agree with Hubert. “I hate to be a Debby-downer, after all I am Ferdinand von Aegir, but an engagement between the heirs to the Adrestian Empire and the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus? That’s not feasible,” he said from a political standpoint.

Hubert rolled his eyes at Ferdinand’s comment, but seeing as their thoughts on the topic agreed he remained silent and continued to glare up at Dedue, as well as Hilda for hip-checking him.

Lorenz scoffed from nearby Ferdinand and Hubert, his arms crossed with one hand hovering near his chin. “Agreed. The Leicester Alliance is already made up of noble families working together for the better to ensure the safety of Fódlan. If Adrestia and Faerghus join together then they’d be unstoppable in whatever they want to do with Fódlan, even for us.”

“A-Ah well, I think it would be good!” A soft voice said in the middle of all the voices. Marianne’s head peeked out from behind Raphael. However, her voice was buried underneath everyone else’s rambunctious shouts.

“Oi! Let Marianne speak!” Hilda yelled in front of the crowd, gesturing towards Marianne who blushed when everyone’s attention went onto her. “I-I was just… saying that if they were happy and in love… then it would be good. Why would they try to do harm together?”

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Marianne’s right! A marriage! I just LOVE marriages, they’re like happy endings!” Annette exclaimed, before she began to hum the universally known bridal tune of ‘here-comes-the-bride’ loud enough for her peers to hear.

Raphael’s stomach grumbled loudly, interrupting Annette’s wedding tune. He patted his stomach and said, “Well I don’t really care about what’s what, but if there’s a wedding there’s gotta be _ good _ food and a lot of it! I hope you two invite me, even if I’m not in your house!”

Then he gave Edelgard and Dimitri a thumbs up, then Mercedes and Dedue who announced they would help make the food.

Ignatz smiled at the duo while using the tips of his fingers to push his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. “If you two would like, I do do commissions of people and scenery. So if you’d like I may capture a moment of your happiest day in the future in a painting,” he offered.

Linhardt sighed from behind the rest of the group, “This is all so much trouble. Why would they need to plan so much when we’re at the Church of Seiros already? They just need to go up to Archbishop Rhea and have her be the one who officiates them. Fast and easy.”

Lysithea rolled her eyes at Linhardt’s laziness making an appearance once again. “Why _ wouldn’t _ they want to make their wedding special? _ They’re _ special being the heirs to the Empire and Kingdom, don’t be stupid! They’d have to have something grand to show off their marriage, because love or not it will speak to their people politically.”

“Ugh, why do you guys even care? We’re years away from being married still since we’re at the monastery, he’s probably just helping her or giving her something she lost. Not some proposal,” Leonie said, not knowing that she was the closest out of everyone to the truth.

However, no one seemed to agree and continued to make their own comments.

Bernadetta’s head popped out from behind Petra and Dorothea, what’s seen of her visibly shaking. “I-I mean a-are they really en-enga-... in l-love though!?”

Everyone looked back at her, making her squeak and duck back down behind Petra. Dorothea cooed and turned to support Bernadetta by rubbing her back.

“C’mon, Bernie! Speak your mind! Let the masses hear what you want to say,” Dorothea said in encouragement.

Bernadetta gave her a weak smile before continuing to speak, but had her face aimed at the ground so she didn’t have to look at anyone.

“Um… I’m just sa-saying that… T-t-they’d know that an arranged marriage means a lot! Because marriages at this age are so terrifying! Especially for royalty like them! They might be forced to be doing this! Ahhh!” she screamed slightly as she informed everyone before ducking back down behind Petra.

The entire time, Dimitri’s trio of childhood friends stood apart from the rest of the group with their eyes wide taking in the scene before them.

Felix huffed before crossing his arms, glaring down the duo still frozen in place before speaking to the two by him.

“I didn’t think that the Boar Prince was even capable of love, let alone having the balls to try and propose to the spoiled princess over there,” he commented.

Ingrid was biting her lip in anxiety, surveying the scene alongside the other two, before glowering at Felix and nudging him with her elbow. “Don’t be rude, you don’t know if Dimitri is really proposing to her or not, or if… ugh he’s in love with her of all people.”

Felix merely raised an eyebrow at her before saying, “Do you honestly believe that the two of them are into each other?”

“Yeah, I do,” Sylvain said, deciding to interrupt their conversation at that moment before continuing on, “Don’t you remember that story he told us? About that little girl with “pretty purple eyes” that he refused to let us play with back when we were kids?” Sylvain used his fingers as he quoted what Dimitri had said back in the past.

Ingrid and Felix stared up at Sylvain before looking at each other, then back at Sylvain.

“Now that you mention it, I do remember a time where Dimitri didn’t spend as much time with us for a while all those years ago…” Ingrid reminiscened, before shaking her head. “No, Dimitri would definitely tell at least one of us if he was feeling that way about someone. He’d at the very least ask one of us for advice!”

Felix shook his head at the two, scoffing as he said, “Agreed. He wouldn’t be capable of lying about a relationship, and you being the only person here who looks for dates like one breathes air would’ve told us immediately if he was into someone since he most likely would’ve went your way for advice, of all people.”

Sylvain smirked at them before trying to egg them on to a bet, “Oh really? Care to bet on that? If I prove that she is the one that his Highness was crushing on back then and is into now, then you both have to say that I’m the most amazing person you’ve ever met.”

At that, both Felix and Ingrid grimaced at even imagining them speaking those words. Both of them undoubtedly believing that the most amazing person they ever met was their older brother and fiancé respectively — Glenn Fraldarius.

Before either of them could even agree to the wager, Sylvain sauntered up towards the heirs and threw an arm around Dimitri, effectively breaking him out of his daze. When Dimitri was jolted out of his frozen state, his hands still holding onto Edelgard’s tightened making her jump, awakening her from her paralyzed form too. She hadn’t even fully comprehended what was going on at the moment, what with everyone crowding around them.

Edelgard scanned the faces around them and felt herself shrinking into herself, her hand unconsciously gripping onto Dimitri’s even tighter in comfort as everyone was analyzing their body language. She didn’t know what to do or what to say, she felt overwhelmed.

_ My head feels like it’s about to explode, this is all too much. I feel too hot. _

“Soooo, your Highness!” Sylvain began, a teasing lilt to his voice as he eyed the bright red faces of Dimitri and Edelgard. “Congratulations on the proposal, really! We all saw this coming, or at least… _ I did _!” he stated, winking at the crowd of unbelievable faces. Of which also included Edelgard herself, but when she looked over at Dimitri he seemed once again frozen, but in embarrassment as he was turning even redder.

“Sylvain I swe-” Dimitri began before Sylvain cut him off.

“Hold up, Dimitri!” Sylvain said, actually holding his hand up to make Dimitri stop speaking, “Lemme practice my best man speech over here.”

Dimitri scowled at Sylvain, opening his mouth to protest once again but like before, Sylvain continued on without giving Dimitri a chance to defend either of them.

“Now their love story began, I believe about 9 or so years ago in 1171! When little miss Heiress over here came to live in Faerghus and became besties with his Highness over the three or so years, maybe less. How do I know?” Sylvain cupped his ears as if to hear people asking him that very question, but he just rolled on with his story.

“Well my dear old friend had practically up and left Ingrid, Felix, and I to our lonesome selves during that time. He was always excited to spend time with this little girl that he refused to let us meet, but when he actually spent time with the three of us, he would always go on and on about this “pretty purple eyed girl” that we never saw in all of that time she was in Faerghus,” Sylvain said, winking at the so called “couple” beside him.

Edelgard felt her breath caught in her throat as murky memories slowly started to clear up in her head, forgotten faces and names appearing where it once was missing. Bright blond hair and sky blue eyes stuck themselves to the head of her long lost, but not forgotten childhood friend. Or at least she thought.

She shook her head to focus back on the story, but not before catching Dimitri’s eyes that were carefully watching her. Eyes that were no longer glaring at Sylvain. Eyes that… were a lot softer that she ever remembered them looking like before. Almost as if they were vulnerable.

Edelgard felt her stomach squirm as she immediately looked away from Dimitri’s searching eyes.

_ That’s not possible. Dimitri _ can’t _ be that boy. Not the boy I told Professor Byleth about back up in the Goddess’ Tower the night of the Ethereal Moon Ball. I… I would’ve remembered a face like _ his _ and recognized it immediately upon enrolling into and attending the academy. _ Edelgard thought to herself in denial of the tale Sylvain was spinning.

Without looking in Dimitri’s direction, she focused back onto the story and caught the tail end of what Sylvain was saying.

“...- and you know the best part? While most guys know to give a flower, maybe even a hug or a kiss goodbye to a lady that they _ really _ like, his Highness gave her a dagger of all things when she went away! He was miserable for days I tell you, being embarrassed by giving her a dagger instead of something more romantic, and because you know, his crush of the past couple years just left him,” Sylvain said while shrugging towards the end of his sentence.

“Now you all must not believe me when I say that the girl was Edelgard von Hresvelg over here, in fact I didn’t even think anything of it myself when I first saw her at the monastery and saw that she had purple eyes. But then one day I went with Felix to the training grounds and I saw her use a _ very _ familiar dagger that I remember a little boy used to use, and frankly I wasn’t surprised that she wasn’t speaking to His Highness before since he gave her _ a dagger. _ I’d be upset too if my parting gift was just a tool,” Sylvain emphasized as he concluded his tale.

Edelgard couldn’t believe her ears. Dimitri _ was _ that boy from long ago.

The same one that helped stick by her side all those years ago.

The same one that helped her learn how to smile away from home. 

The same one that helped give her an actual childhood.

The same one that helped wake her up from her nightmares.

The same one that helped her find a way out of her loneliness.

The same one that helped her realize that she was in control of her life.

The same one that helped cut a path to a better future.

_ “I can’t say the name, but it was a noble who I met in the Kingdom, a lifetime ago.” _

The same one that she shared countless broken pinky promises with.

Everyone’s commentary on the story were just white noise in her ears as she finally _ remembered _. How much more of her life was she missing? How much more had she forgotten when it must’ve been so important to her?

Edelgard didn’t even notice everyone’s voices falling silent as she didn’t react like the rest of them, her head facing the ground and her hand weak in Dimitri’s. They were just watching her, the majority in concern and others in curiosity.

In her state of anxiety, feeling overwhelmed by all the knowledge and feelings, Edelgard’s free hand went towards the mentioned dagger that she kept hidden in her uniform’s coat, clutching it weakly from outside the jacket to comfort herself whilst keeping it hidden for her own safety. No one was meant to know about it after all.

Before she knew what was happening, she felt herself being tugged somewhere and felt her body softly collide into a big source of warmth. Immediately she felt her body’s tension ease away as she relaxed into the… familiar warmth. Heat gathered around her waist, providing her with more warmth and comfort that was helping to stabilize her. A familiar smell of the leaves of a pine tree and wood enveloped her being.

As her wits began to return to her, she noticed the predicament she was in and immediately tensed up. Her left hand, still having a ring stuck on it, was being held gently in someone else’s hand. Said someone also had an arm encircling her waist, supporting her back as they had her body weight leaning entirely against a steady and firm body.

Looking up, Edelgard was immediately met with the eyes of a piercing blue that spoke volumes of worry, silent distress lining the rest of the features of the face as blond hair hung low. Not being able to handle looking at… _ him _ eye-to-eye just yet, she broke her gaze off to look around her surroundings and to her surprise they were alone.

_Everyone else had left already_, her mind supplied as she was still trying to return to full functioning order. _I heard them leave when Dimitri commanded them to leave us be. But I don’t remember hearing him say that just now._

“El… Are you okay?” Dimitri’s voice softly spoke out. It brought her briefly back a mere half an hour ago when he had first reached out to her, asking if she was okay as she was struggling to get the ring off.

“I…” Edelgard began, her voice somehow feeling hoarse even though she barely spoke all day. “I… I’ll be okay... Dima,” she whispered the nickname she used to call him long ago.

The hand that was once constantly holding hers finally let go, but it did so to gently hold her cheek and lifted her head so that she looked into Dimitri’s eyes.

His eyes spoke of unbelievable amounts of trouble and sadness, feelings that must’ve built up over the years. Along with that was more warmth in his eyes than anything else that… she couldn’t identify what it was. Was it because she remembered who he was? Was it because of Sylvain embarrassing the two of them of their childhood?

The pad of his thumb ran over her cheek in a comforting fashion, to the point she even leaned her face into the palm of his hand and closed her eyes so that he continued the motion.

They stayed silent a little longer, Edelgard being unable to tell if a minute, a couple, or even an hour or two had passed, but she felt at peace somehow.

When she opened her eyes, she left them open half-lidded in her emotionally tired state as she gazed back up at Dimitri who seemed to have been steadfast in staring at her the entire time, not looking any different from when she looked away initially.

Edelgard opened her mouth to begin speaking again, but she noticed that when she did his eyes broke away from hers and glanced down at her lips before returning to her eyes once again. She couldn’t help the blush that broke out on her face at that action, lips tingling at the memory of the kiss they shared the other day, but she continued on with trying to speak.

“I’m sorry…”

“Whatever for?”

“For… forgetting you. I never meant to.”

Dimitri’s face tightened as if he was gonna cry, before he relaxed and pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as his lips brushed the tip of her nose. His arm that was around her waist dipping lower so that his hand was stroking against her hip. His hand on her face becoming still but still supporting the weight of their heads.

Neither of them backed away from the other.

She tried to continue telling him what she felt by whispering, “I’m glad that I remember though… The boy in my memories was always precious to me. I just couldn’t remember _ who _ he was.”

“... I will not be able to say that it’s okay. But I will say that hearing those words have removed an enormous amount of burden off of my shoulders, and replaced it with an overwhelming amount of happiness. So I thank you,” he murmured quietly.

Edelgard watched Dimitri’s eyelids open at half mast, the same as hers, as they peered into the other’s windows of the soul.

She felt his face somehow draw even closer than before, his breath hitting her lips as his face dipped down and she stood up on her tiptoes.

Just as their lips were about to meet, a pile of voices screamed out from behind the corner and various thumps were heard hitting the ground.

“OH SHIT!”

“Ahh! Get off of me you heathens! You’re ruining my coiffed and pointed locks!”

“YOU IDIOTS, WE _ ALL _ COULDN’T BE LOOKING AROUND THE CORNER AT THE SAME TIME!”

“Well _ I _deserve to see my matchmaking come to fruition, excuse you!”

“U-U-Uh guys, we sh-should stop b-b-before they get m-mad eep!”

“I can’t believe that Sylvain was right about them though. He’s _ never _right when he tries picking up women or giving love advice.”

“Silence. All of you. Or else I’ll end your bloodlines right here and now.”

The two of them immediately turned around to see said pile of voices turn out to be a pile of bodies fallen on top of one another from where they were watching the two.

The only individual who seemed unharmed from the fall was Claude who was slightly apart from the pile, but was on the ground as well.

Lying on his side.

In a ‘draw-me-like-one-of-your-Dagda-girls’* pose.

When Claude makes eye contact with them, he gives them a wink and a two finger salute, before using those very same fingers to give a wolf-whistle.

“Whooo! Get it your Highnesses! I’m only one room away from yours though, Dimitri, so you two remember to keep it down tonight.”

Unimpressed, the duo scrutinized their peers who finally noticed that they were caught and had all cowed at the sight of the double glare. Neither of them deemed it necessary to even give Claude a response, let alone give him any attention for his behavior.

“Ugh, Claude! Stop being a pervert and leave them alone!” Lysithea lectured, being one of the few students who wasn’t apart of the doggy pile.

Aside from Lysithea, a few other students remained standing and had begun to walk back towards the direction of the mess hall to whether get away from their more rambunctious classmates, or to give the royal couple some alone time. Or maybe they were just hungry. A profuse amount of apologies were being yelled as the fallen students all got up and began running away from the courtyard to the mess hall to catch-up to their more level headed friends.

Hilda had even dragged Claude towards the direction whilst Claude allowed her to, not even bothering to get up himself.

As they watched everyone leave, Edelgard felt Dimitri’s hand on her face return back to her left hand. The hand that still had the fake engagement ring stuck on it.

Her ears perked up as it caught a noise from beside her and when she looked, she saw Dimitri’s glower turning into a lighthearted expression as quiet snickers escaped from him.

She felt her heart stutter from seeing the expression, and before she knew it the contagious laughter spread to her and she began giggling too.

“Our situation is quite ridiculous, is it not?”

“Haha, agreed. But I wouldn’t change anything about it.”

Edelgard squeezed Dimitri’s hand and he squeezed hers in return, their hands grasped in one another’s. She felt his thumb stroke over the ring before his hand maneuvered their hands so that their pinky fingers curled around each other.

_ “Pinky promise to see each other again soon!” _

_ “I pinky promise! The next time you see me, you won’t be able to keep your eyes off of me!” _

Unspoken promises and feelings still lingered in the air around them, but they still had time.

At least in that moment.

At least for now.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Maybe she could follow the vows that were spoken before.

Maybe she could <strike> learn to </strike> trust him.

Maybe she could love him <strike> again </strike>.

Maybe they could start over.

—————

"I, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd-”

"I, Edelgard von Hresvelg-”

“Take thee, Edelgard von Hresvelg-”

"Take thee, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd-”

“To be my wedded wife-”

"To be my wedded husband-”

“To have and to hold-”

“From this day forward-”

“For better, for worse-”

“For richer, for poorer-”

“In sickness and in health-”

“To love and to cherish-”

“Till death do us part-”

“I pledge myself to you." 

**Author's Note:**

> * Represents allusions to real life phrases that I changed up to fit the FE3H world a little bit more.  
“Ah-dres-ti-an” used when Ricky was counting down was supposed to mimic the syllables used in counting seconds with, “One Mississipi… Two Miss-is-si-pi…”  
The other phrase used, “Draw me like one of your Dagda girls,” referenced the whole, “Draw me like one of your French girls,” poses that gets memed on a lot.
> 
> Would you guys want me I to make a second chapter from Dimitri’s POV? I kinda like this staying a one-shot, but if you guys wanna see more I’d be up for making more (eventually)! Also originally I finished this fic around 3k words and then I decided to add a little bit more but I couldn’t stop, so I hope you had fun reading this much.


End file.
